Apparatus and system for imaging currency bills and financial documents and method for using the same

ABSTRACT

A stack of currency bills is received, transported, and imaged via an image scanner to produce image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image for each currency bill. Each of the currency bills has an associated serial number and additional identifying character information. The associated currency bill serial number and the additional identifying character information are extracted from the image data of each currency bill. Each currency bill is denominated. A suspect determination is made for each currency bill and upon a determination that a currency bill is a suspect bill, A suspect note report is automatically generated. Fields in the report are populated with information associated with the suspect bill including the extracted serial number, the extracted additional identifying character information, and the denomination of the suspect bill.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/758,961, filed Apr. 13, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,437,529, whichclaims the benefits of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/169,690,filed Apr. 15, 2009, U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/242,668, filedSep. 15, 2009, U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/259,018, filed Nov.6, 2009, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/323,213, filed Apr. 12,2010; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/758,961, filed Apr. 13, 2010,is a continuation-in-part of prior U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/044,720, filed Mar. 7, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,204,293, whichclaims the benefits of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/905,965,filed Mar. 9, 2007 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/022,752,filed Jan. 22, 2008; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/758,961, filedApr. 13, 2010, is a continuation-in-part of prior U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/544,052, filed Aug. 19, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No.8,041,098, which is a continuation of prior U.S. patent application Ser.No. 11/199,511, filed Aug. 8, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,599,543, whichis a divisional of prior U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/965,428,filed Sep. 27, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,187,795; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/758,961, filed Apr. 13, 2010, is acontinuation-in-part of prior U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/638,231, filed Aug. 7, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,903,863, which is acontinuation-in-part of prior U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/965,428, filed Sep. 27, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,187,795; U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/758,961, filed Apr. 13, 2010, is acontinuation-in-part of prior U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/669,787, filed Sep. 24, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,873,576, whichclaims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/413,387, filedSep. 25, 2002; all of the foregoing applications are hereby incorporatedby reference herein in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The field of the invention relates generally to imaging currency billsand financial documents and apparatuses, systems, and methods for doingthe same.

BACKGROUND

Previous document processing devices for financial documents havevarious shortcomings.

SUMMARY

According to some embodiments, a method of processing a stack ofcurrency bills in a document processing system includes receiving astack of currency bills in an input receptacle of the documentprocessing system. Each of the currency bills has an associated serialnumber and additional identifying character information. The currencybills are transported from the input receptacle, past an image scanner,and to an output receptacle. The stack of currency bills is imaged viathe image scanner to produce image data that is reproducible as avisually readable image for each currency bill. The associated currencybill serial number and the additional identifying character informationare extracted from the image data of each currency bill. Each currencybill is denominated. The method further includes determining whethereach currency bill is a suspect bill and upon a determination that thecurrency bill is a suspect bill, automatically generating a suspect notereport. Fields in the report are populated with information associatedwith the suspect bill including the extracted serial number, theextracted additional identifying character information, and thedenomination of the suspect bill.

According to some embodiments, a method of processing a stack ofcurrency bills in a document processing device includes receiving thestack of currency bills in an input receptacle of the documentprocessing device. Each of the currency bills has an associated serialnumber and additional identifying character information. The stack ofcurrency bills is imaged to produce image data that is reproducible as avisually readable image for each currency bill. The associated currencybill serial number and the additional identifying character informationare extracted from the image data for each currency bill. Each currencybill is denominated. The method further includes determining whethereach currency bill is a suspect bill and upon determining that acurrency bill is a suspect bill, transmitting to a network informationconfigured to populate fields in a report at a receiving node. Theinformation includes the serial number extracted from the image data forthe suspect bill, the additional identifying character informationextracted from the image data for the suspect bill, and the denominationof the suspect bill.

According to some embodiments, a system for processing currency billsincludes an input receptacle, an image scanner, a transport mechanism, aprocessor, and a communications link. The input receptacle is configuredto receive a stack of currency bills. Each currency bill has uniqueidentifying character information associated with at least twopredetermined character fields of each currency bill. The image scanneris configured to obtain image data that is reproducible as a visuallyreadable image of one or more portions of at least one side of eachcurrency bill. The image scanner is configured to extract the uniqueidentifying character information from the at least two predeterminedcharacter fields from the image data of the currency bill. The imagescanner is further configured to extract denomination information foreach currency bill. The transport mechanism is for transporting thecurrency bills from the input receptacle, past the image scanner, and toan output receptacle. The processor is configured to determine whethereach of the currency bills is a suspect bill based on the extractedunique identifying character information. The communications link isconfigured to transmit information for each currency bill determined tobe a suspect bill. The information is configured for populating fieldsin a report at a receiving node. The information includes the extractedunique identifying character information from the at least twopredetermined character fields of each suspect bill, at least a portionof the image data for each suspect bill, and the denomination of eachsuspect bill.

According to some embodiments, an apparatus for processing currencybills includes an input receptacle, an image scanner, a processor, andan output device. The input receptacle is configured to receive a stackof currency bills. Each currency bill has a serial number and additionalidentifying character information. The image scanner is configured toobtain image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image ofone or more portions of at least one side of each currency bill. Theimage scanner is configured to extract the serial number and at leastone or more additional identifying characters from the image data foreach currency bill. The image scanner is further configured to extractdenomination information for each currency bill. The processor isconfigured to authenticate each currency bill based on the extractedserial number and the extracted at least one or more additionalidentifying characters for each respective currency bill. The outputdevice is configured to automatically display a suspect note report foreach currency bill determined to be non-authentic by the processor. Thesuspect note report for a non-authentic currency bill includes fieldspopulated with the serial number extracted from the image of thenon-authentic currency bill, the additional identifying charactersextracted from the image data for the non-authentic currency bill, andthe extracted denomination information of the non-authentic currencybill.

According to some embodiments, a method of processing currency billsincludes receiving in a document processing system an electronic datafile over a network. The electronic data file includes image data thatis reproducible as visually readable images corresponding to a firstplurality of currency bills. Each data file further includes anassociated serial number and additional identifying characterinformation tagged to the image data for each of the first plurality ofcurrency bills. An input receptacle of the document processing devicereceives a stack of a second plurality of currency bills. Each of thesecond plurality of currency bills has an associated serial number andadditional identifying character information. The second plurality ofcurrency bills is transported from the input receptacle, past an imagescanner, and to an output receptacle. The stack of the second pluralityof currency bills is imaged via the image scanner to produce image datathat is reproducible as visually readable images for each currency bill.The associated currency bill serial number and the additionalidentifying character information are extracted from the image data foreach of the second plurality of currency bills. The extracted serialnumber and additional identifying information from the second pluralityof currency bills are compared with the electronic data file todetermine if any of the second plurality of currency bills has amatching serial number and additional identifying character informationthe electronic data file for the first plurality of currency bills.

Additional aspects of the present disclosure will be apparent to thoseof ordinary skill in the art in view of the detailed description ofvarious embodiments, which is made with reference to the drawings, abrief description of which is provided below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a document processing system according tosome embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2A is a perspective view of a document processing device accordingto some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view of the document processing device ofFIG. 2A having a transport mechanism in an open position;

FIG. 2C is a cross-sectional view of the document processing device ofFIG. 2A having the transport mechanism in a closed position;

FIG. 3A is a representation for a record for a currency bill accordingto some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3B is a representation for a record of a check according to someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3C is a representation for a record of a currency bill according tosome embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3D is a representation for a record of a currency bill according tosome embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3E is a representation of a data file including a plurality ofrecords of a plurality of currency bills according to some embodimentsof the present disclosure;

FIG. 4A is a block diagram of a financial transaction system accordingto some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4B is a block diagram illustrating a transportation of physicaldocuments in the financial transaction system of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 5A is a flowchart describing the operation of a financialinstitution system according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 5B is a flowchart describing an authentication operation of someembodiments of the financial institution system of FIG. 5A;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart describing the operation of a financialtransaction system according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 7A is a flowchart describing the operation of a financialinstitution system according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 7B is a flowchart describing a credit operation of some embodimentsof the financial institution system of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 8A is a flowchart describing the operation of a financialtransaction system according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 8B is a continuation of the flowchart describing the operation ofthe financial transaction system of FIG. 8A;

FIG. 9A is a representation of an interface for entering denominationinformation for a flagged document according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 9B is a representation of an interface for entering denominationinformation for a flagged document according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 9C is a representation of an interface for entering alphanumericcharacter information for a flagged document according to someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9D is a representation of an interface for entering alphanumericcharacter information for a flagged document according to someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9E is a representation of an interface for entering alphanumericcharacter information for a flagged document according to someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9F is a representation of an interface for entering alphanumericcharacter information for a flagged document according to someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a representation of an interface for configuring theoperation of a document processing system according to some embodimentsof the present disclosure;

FIG. 11A is a representation of an interface for overriding or acceptingan authentication determination according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 11B is a representation of an interface for overriding or acceptingan authentication determination according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 11C is a block diagram of a document processing network accordingto some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12A is a representation of a database of records according to someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12B is a representation of a database of records according to someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12C is a representation of a search result summary of a searchaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12D is a representation of a search result summary of anothersearch according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12E is a representation of a secondary search of the another searchof FIG. 12D according to a modified set of parameters;

FIG. 12F is a representation of a third search of the another search ofFIG. 12D according to a modified set of parameters;

FIG. 12G is a representation of a search result summary of a searchaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13A is a perspective view of the document processing device of FIG.2A with the housing and other selected components removed to illustratea transport mechanism in a closed position according to someembodiments;

FIG. 13B is a perspective view of the document processing device of FIG.2A with the housing and other selected components removed to illustratethe transport mechanism in an open position according to someembodiments;

FIG. 13C is a side view of the document processing device of FIG. 2Awith the housing and other selected components removed to illustrate alatch mechanism retaining the transport mechanism in the closed positionaccording to some embodiments;

FIG. 13D is a side view of the document processing device of FIG. 2Awith the housing and other selected components removed to illustrate thelatch mechanism and a movable segment of the transport mechanism in anunlocked, intermediate position according to some embodiments;

FIG. 13E is a side view of the document processing device of FIG. 2Awith the housing and other selected components removed to illustrate thelatch mechanism retaining the transport mechanism in the open positionaccording to some embodiments;

FIGS. 14-17 are block diagrams illustrating banking-related systemsincluding one or more document processing devices according to someembodiments;

FIG. 18A is a block diagram of a document processing vault systemaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 18B is a perspective view of a document processing vault systemaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 18C is a partial cross-sectional perspective view of the documentprocessing vault system of FIG. 18B;

FIG. 18D is a flowchart of a method of processing currency bills in adocument processing vault system according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 18E is a flowchart of a method of processing documents in adocument processing vault system according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 18F is a flowchart of a method of processing documents and coins ina document processing vault system according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 18G is a flowchart of a method of processing documents in adocument processing vault system according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 19A is a block diagram of a document processing recycler systemaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 19B is a flowchart of a method for processing documents in thedocument processing recycler system of FIG. 19A;

FIG. 20A is a flowchart of a method for processing currency bills in adocument processing system using header bills and/or trailer billsaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 20B is a flowchart of a method for processing currency bills in amultiple pocket document processing system using the header bills and/orthe trailer bills of FIG. 20A;

FIG. 20C is a flowchart of a method for processing currency bills in adocument processing system including creating a record according to someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 20D is a flowchart of a method for processing currency bills in amultiple pocket document processing system including the record of FIG.20C;

FIG. 21A is a flowchart of a method of recording an expected location ofa currency bill using a document processing system according to someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 21B is a flowchart of a method of updating an expected location ofa currency bill using a document processing system according to someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 21C is a flowchart of a method of reconciling currency bills usinga document processing system according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 21D is a flowchart of a method of monitoring and reconcilingcurrency bills using a document processing system according to someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 22 is a representation of another record with selected informationextracted from a currency bill according to certain embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIGS. 23A-B represent a report with fields automatically populated withselected information extracted from a currency bill according to certainembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 24 is a block diagram of a financial transaction system accordingto certain embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 25 is a flowchart describing a currency bill processing method forhandling suspect currency bills according to certain embodiments of thepresent disclosure; and

FIG. 26 is a flowchart describing a currency bill processing method foridentifying suspect bills according to certain embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way ofexample in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. Itshould be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to belimited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the invention is tocover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling withinthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

Each of the following listed U.S. patent applications and U.S. patentsare each hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties:

-   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/664,262, filed May 13, 1996, now    U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,918, entitled “Automatic Funds Processing    System”;-   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/864,423, filed May 28, 1997, now    U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,819, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Document    Processing”;-   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/059,813, filed Apr. 14, 1998,    now U.S. Pat. No. 6,661,910, entitled “Network For Transporting and    Processing Images in Real Time”;-   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/814,978, filed Mar. 11, 1997,    now U.S. Pat. No. 6,363,164, entitled “Automated Document Processing    System Using Full Image Scanning”;-   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/635,967, filed Aug. 10, 2000,    now U.S. Pat. No. 6,929,109, entitled “Method and Apparatus for    Document Processing”;-   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/965,428, filed Sep. 27, 2001,    now U.S. Pat. No. 7,187,795, entitled “Document Processing System    Using Full Image Scanning”;-   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/981,315, filed Nov. 2, 2004, now    allowed, entitled “Multiple Pocket Currency Bill Processing Device    and Method”;-   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/068,977, filed Feb. 8, 2002, now    U.S. Pat. No. 6,860,375, entitled “Multiple Pocket Currency Bill    Processing Device and Method”;-   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/638,231, filed Aug. 7, 2003,    entitled “Currency Bill Tracking System”;-   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/903,745, filed Jul. 30, 2004,    now allowed, entitled “Currency Processing Device, Method and    System”;-   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/036,686, filed Jan. 14, 2005,    now allowed, entitled “Currency Processing Device, Method and    System”; and-   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/048,296, filed Feb. 1, 2005,    entitled “Automated Document Processing System and Method Using    Image Scanning”.

As stated above, all of the above mentioned U.S. patent applications andU.S. patents are each hereby incorporated by reference herein in theirentireties.

Definitions

When describing various embodiments, the term “currency bills” refers toofficial currency bills including both U.S. currency bills, such as a$1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, or $100 bills, and foreign currency bills.Foreign currency bills are notes issued by a non-U.S. governmentalagency as legal tender, such as a euro, Japanese yen, pound sterling(e.g., British pound), Canadian dollar, Australian dollar bill, MexicanPeso, or Turkish lira.

The term “brick U.S. currency bills” generally refers to U.S. currencybills in mint or near mint condition having the highest fitness level.Brick U.S. currency can also refer to non-circulated U.S. currencybills, such as, for example, new bills shipped by the U.S. FederalReserve to commercial banks. Brick U.S. currency bills are crisp, freeof holes, free of tears, free of wrinkles, free of stray markings (penand/or pencil marks), etc.

The term “general circulation U.S. currency bills” refers to random U.S.currency bills having a variety of different fitness levels (e.g., somemint bills, some near mint bills, some heavily worn bills, some billswith holes, some bills with tears, some soiled bills, or combinationsthereof). For example, general circulation U.S. currency bills wouldinclude currency bills scheduled to be deposited by a retail store in abank for a given workday and/or work week that were collected fromcustomers. For another example, general circulation U.S. currency billsinclude all of or a portion of the bills in a bank vault. For anotherexample, general circulation U.S. currency bills do not only includeheavily worn bills and/or torn bills.

The term “star note” refers to a U.S. currency bill that has an asterisk(*), or star, after the serial number. A U.S. currency bill that isdiscovered to have been printed incorrectly (such as having the serialnumbers upside down, etc.) can be replaced with a star note because notwo bills within a certain series can be produced with the same serialnumber in the U.S. According to some embodiments, star note serialnumbers including an asterisk can be extracted and processed in thesame, or similar, manner as non-star notes described herein.

The term “wildcard character” refers to a character that matches zero ormore other characters, such as “a-z” or “0-9,” during a comparisonoperation. That is, a wildcard character can be used to substitute foror represent any other character or characters in a string ofcharacters. There are two types of wildcard characters disclosed herein,which include “a single wildcard character” and “a multiple wildcardcharacter.” A single wildcard character represents exactly onecharacter. The exactly one represented character can be any character,such as, for example, any letter “a” through “z” irrespective of case,any single digit number “0” through “9,” or any symbol. As described indetail in the Modes of Operation—Searching/Master Database Section,single wildcard characters can be substituted for and/or used torepresent individual identifier characters that were not determinedduring character extraction. A common single wildcard character is aquestion mark “?” symbol. That is, according to some embodiments, the“?” can serve as a placeholder for a single unknown character. Amultiple wildcard character represents zero or more characters. The zeroor more represented characters can be any combination of characters,such as, for example, letters “a” through “z” irrespective of case,numbers “0” through “9,” and/or symbols. As described in detail in theModes of Operation—Searching/Master Database Section, targetidentifiers, such as a target serial number or a portion thereof, caninclude one or more multiple wildcard characters to perform many typesof searches. A common multiple wildcard character is a percent symbol“%.”

“Substitute currency notes” are sheet-like documents similar to currencybills, but are issued by non-governmental agencies such as casinos andamusement parks and include, for example, casino script and DisneyDollars. Substitute currency notes each have a denomination and anissuing entity associated therewith such as, for example, a $5 DisneyDollar, a $10 Disney Dollar, a $20 ABC Casino note, and a $100 ABCCasino note.

“Currency notes” consist of currency bills and substitute currencynotes.

“Substitute currency media” are documents that represent a value by somemarking or characteristic such as a bar code, color, size, graphic, ortext. Examples of “substitute currency media” include withoutlimitation: casino cashout tickets (also variously called cashoutvouchers or coupons) such as, for example, “EZ Pay” tickets issued byInternational Gaming Technology or “Quicket” tickets issued by CasinoData Systems; casino script; promotional media such as, for example,Disney Dollars or Toys a Us “Geoffrey Dollars”; or retailer coupons,gift certificates, gift cards, or food stamps. Accordingly, substitutecurrency media includes, but is not limited to, substitute currencynotes. Substitute currency media may or may not be issued by agovernmental body.

The term “currency documents” includes both currency bills and“substitute currency media.” The term “non-currency documents” includesany type of document except currency documents. For example,non-currency documents include personal checks, commercial checks,deposit slips, loan payment documents, cash credit or cash debittickets, etc. The terms “financial documents” and “documents” are usedthroughout the specification to generally refer to any of currencybills, substitute currency notes, currency notes, substitute currencymedia, currency documents, and non-currency documents. According to someembodiments, the term document can also refer to full sheets of lettersized (e.g., 8½″×11″) and/or A4 sized documents. According to some suchembodiments, a document processing system or device of the presentdisclosure can be configured to run in a scan-only mode that scansdocuments, including full sheets of letter and/or A4 sized documents, togenerate a visually readable image of the document.

The term “deposit document” includes deposit slips, cash-in tickets, andcash-out tickets. A deposit document is generally associated with adeposit of currency bills and/or checks into, for example, a bank by abank customer. A deposit slip can include information such as, forexample, a customer financial account number, a total deposit amount, atotal currency bill deposit amount, a number of deposited currency billsbroken down by denomination, a total check deposit amount, a number ofdeposited checks broken down by on-us checks and transit checks, a totalon-us check deposit amount, a total transit check deposit amount, atotal cashout amount, or combinations thereof.

Everyday, businesses and people unknowingly accept counterfeit currencydocuments as genuine. A counterfeit currency document is a currencydocument which is not issued by an authorized maker and/or a currencydocument which has been altered, for example, a $1 bill which has beenaltered to appear to be a $20 bill. For example, in the case of U.S.currency bills, a counterfeit currency bill would be a document printedto look like a genuine U.S. bill but not printed by the U.S. TreasuryDepartment's Bureau of Engraving and Printing or one that has beentampered with or altered. As another example, in the case of casinoscript, a counterfeit currency document would be a script that is notissued by the corresponding casino or one that has been tampered with oraltered.

The term “financial institution” as used herein includes, but is notlimited to, banks, such as, brick and mortar banks, internet/onlinebanks, casinos, brokers, investment banks, and armored carriers. Armoredcarriers can be stand alone financial institutions and/or agents ofanother financial institution.

Throughout this disclosure, the terms “Store” and “Bank” are used forease of description to describe parties involved in typical documenttransactions according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Itshould be understood, however, that this disclosure also applies topeople, companies, corporations, financial institutions, and any otherentity that receives and/or transmits documents and/or visually readableimages of documents. For example, the term Bank can also be used torefer to a financial institution. Additionally, the term Store can beused to refer to any financial institution customer or bank customerthat retains an account at a bank, such as, for example, a casino, anarmored carrier, a supermarket, a toy store, an amusement park, a schooldistrict, a municipality, a law firm, a restaurant, or other enterprise.The term Store can also include individual consumers and/or selfemployed enterprises.

Throughout this disclosure, the term “operator” is used to refer to aperson or persons operating a document processing device or system undernormal operating conditions such as, for example, a store clerk, a storemanager, a bank employee, a bank teller, or a bank customer.

Throughout this disclosure, the term “teller” is used to refer to aperson or persons that processes deposits of documents at a bank branch,a bank vault, an ATM, an armored carrier, etc.

Throughout this disclosure, the term “batch” is used to refer to a setof documents that is associated with a transaction. A batch of documentscan include one or more deposit documents, one or more currency bills,one or more checks, a header card, a trailer card, or any combinationthereof. For example, a batch of documents associated with a firsttransaction between a store and a bank can include ten documents, theten documents including one deposit slip, eight currency bills, and onecheck. For another example, a batch of documents associated with asecond transaction between an individual and a bank can includetwenty-five documents, the twenty-five documents including one depositslip, twenty currency bills, and four checks.

The disclosure refers to at least two types of batches of documents,which include a “sorted batch of documents” and an “intermingled orcommingled batch of documents.” A sorted batch of documents is a batchof documents wherein the order of different types of documents, such as,for example, currency bills, checks, and deposit documents, is arrangedby groups, wherein each batch consists of at most only one group foreach type of document. For example, for a batch consisting of ten checksand ten currency bills, a sorted batch of documents would include onegroup of the ten checks preceding or following a group of the tencurrency bills. For another example, for a batch consisting of onedeposit slip, five checks, and five currency bills, a sorted batch ofdocuments would include the deposit slip and one group of the fivechecks preceding or following a group of the five currency bills. It iscontemplated that the deposit slip can precede or follow either of thetwo groups of documents.

An intermingled batch of documents is a batch of documents wherein theorder of different types of documents, such as, for example, currencybills, checks, and deposit documents, is mixed or random. For example, abatch consisting of ten checks and ten currency bills would be anintermingled batch of documents if the batch consisted of, in order, twobills, then three checks, then one bill, then seven checks, and finallyseven bills. For another example, a batch consisting of one depositslip, one cash-out ticket, ten currency bills, and twenty checks wouldbe an intermingled batch of documents if the batch consisted of, inorder, the deposit slip, five currency bills, ten checks, the cash-outticket, five checks, five currency bills, and finally five checks.

A batch of documents including currency bills, checks, and/or depositdocuments can be processed in a document processing device or systemaccording to several modes of operation, such as, for example, asorted-group mode, an ordered-batch mode, and an intermingled-batchmode. According to some embodiments, sorted batches of documents can beprocessed according to the sorted-group mode or the ordered-batch mode.According to some embodiments, intermingled batches of documents can beprocessed according to the intermingled-batch mode.

In the sorted-group mode, the currency bills are processed in separategroups from the checks. For example, for a batch of documents thatincludes one hundred currency bills and twenty-five checks, the onehundred currency bills are input into an input receptacle of thedocument processing device and processed as a first group of documents.Subsequently, the twenty-five checks are input into an input receptacleof the document processing device and processed separately as a secondgroup of documents. That is, the currency bills and the checks of thebatch of documents are processed in separate groups of documents by thesame device.

In the ordered-batch mode, the currency bills are sorted from the checksinto separate groups of documents, but the currency bills and the checksare input into an input receptacle of the document processing devicetogether as a single batch of documents such that the documentprocessing device can process the currency bills and then process thechecks as a batch of documents associated with a transaction. Forexample, for a batch of documents that includes three hundred andfifty-five currency bills and six hundred checks, according to someembodiments, the three hundred and fifty-five currency bills are inputinto the input receptacle of the document processing device and the sixhundred checks are positioned on top of the currency bills such that thecurrency bills are transported and processed first, and then the checksare transported and processed second. That is, the currency bills andthe checks of the batch of documents are processed together, one afterthe other. For another example, for a sorted batch of documents thatincludes five currency bills and ten checks, according to someembodiments, the ten checks are input into the input receptacle of thedocument processing device and the five currency bills are positioned ontop of the checks such that the checks are transported and processedfirst, and then the currency bills are transported and processed second.

In the intermingled-batch mode, the currency bills are mixed with thechecks and input into the input receptacle of the document processingdevice together as a single intermingled or commingled batch ofdocuments. For example, for a batch of documents that includes tencurrency bills and ten checks, where the documents are ordered from oneto twenty, the batch can be ordered such that the first five documentsin the batch are currency bills, the second five documents in the batchare checks, then three currency bills, then two checks, then twocurrency bills, followed by three checks. In the intermingled-batchmode, the document processing device is configured to process the mixedcurrency bills and checks of the intermingled or commingled batch ofdocuments together. Furthermore, in the intermingled-batch mode, theorder of the documents does not matter and the processing device doesnot expect or require the documents in a batch to be in any particularorder. Thus, a sorted batch of documents can be processed in theintermingled-batch mode.

Throughout this disclosure, the term “stack” or stack of documents isused to refer to a set of documents that is received in an inputreceptacle of a document processing device or system. A stack ofdocuments can include a group of currency bills only; a group of checksonly; a batch of documents including currency bills, checks, and/orother documents, such as deposit documents; one or more batches ofdocuments; one or more subbatches of documents, one or more orderedbatches of documents; an intermingled batch of documents; one or moredeposit documents; one or more header cards and/or trailer cards; or anycombination thereof.

Throughout this disclosure, the term “visually readable image,” as wouldbe understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, refers to image dataor a portion of image data obtained for a document, that image data orportion thereof being reproducible as a visually readable image—that is,a visually readable image is reproducible from or using image data. Forexample, one of ordinary skill in the art would understand a visuallyreadable image would be reproduced on a display device, or otherwise,for viewing by a human user of the devices and systems described herein.The visually readable image reproduced on the display device isassociated with image data or a portion of image data obtained from aphysical document (for example, currency bill, check, deposit slip).Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would understand the phrases“image data” and “visually readable image,” as either individually or insome combination, to generally refer to and include image data or aportion of image data from which a visually readable image may beproduced. In some contexts, reference may be made to, for example, theelectronic storage or transmittal of image data that is reproducible asa visually readable image. In other contexts, reference may be made to,for example, the electronic storage or transmittal of a visuallyreadable image. In both contexts, one of ordinary skill in the art wouldunderstand both phrases to generally be the same or similar, that is,image data, or a portion thereof, from which a visually readable imagemay be produced. The image data and/or visually readable images of thepresent disclosure can be in any of a variety of file formats, such as,for example, JPEG, JFIF, Exif, TIFF, RAW, PNG, GIF, BMP, etc.

Document Processing Device and System

To reduce costs associated with receiving counterfeit currency billsand/or fraudulent checks, to prevent Stores and/or Banks from having toassume all of the risks and costs from accepting such documents, and toincrease document processing efficiency, a document processing deviceand/or system according to the present disclosure may be used.

Turning now to FIG. 1, a block diagram of a document processing system100 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure isillustrated. The document processing system 100 is also known as adocument scanning system for scanning a plurality of documents.According to some embodiments, as illustrated, the document processingsystem 100 includes a document processing device 101 communicativelyconnected to a computer 151 (e.g., a customer computer, a storecomputer, a bank computer, a financial institution computer, aprocessor(s) etc.). Alternatively, the document processing system 100can include a document processing device and a computer and/or aprocessor in a single housing.

According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101includes an input receptacle 110, a transport mechanism 120, and anoutput receptacle 130. Only one input receptacle 110 and one or moreoutput receptacles 130 are shown in FIG. 1 for simplicity. According toother embodiments, however, the document processing device 101 mayinclude a plurality of input receptacles 110 and a plurality of outputreceptacles 130. For example, according to some embodiments, thedocument processing device 101 may have two input receptacles 110, onefor currency bills and one for checks, or simply to accommodate agreater number of documents. As another example, the document processingdevice 101 can have a single input receptacle 110 capable ofaccommodating both sorted batches of documents and intermingled batchesof documents including, for example, currency bills and checks, withinthe input receptacle 110 and one or more output receptacles 130.According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101 caninclude one or more input receptacles 110 and a plurality of outputreceptacles 130, such as, for example, an imaging multiple pocketdocument processing device or an imaging MPS—where an imaging MPS is amultiple pocket document processing device that includes image scannersconfigured to image documents. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing device 101 can include one or more input receptacles110 and a plurality of output receptacles 130, such as, for example, anon-imaging multiple pocket document processing device—where anon-imaging MPS is a document processing device that does not includeimage scanners and is not configured to image documents. According tosome embodiments, the document processing device 101 is configured toreceive a one or more intermingled batches of documents, such as, forexample, an intermingled batch of currency bill and checks, in the inputreceptacle 110 and to process the one or more intermingled batches ofdocuments according to an intermingled-batch mode of operation asdescribed herein in the Definitions Section, and in other sections ofthe present disclosure. According to other embodiments, the documentprocessing device 101 is configured to receive a sorted batch ofdocuments including currency bills and checks in the input receptacle110 and to process the currency bills and the checks according to asorted-group mode of operation or an ordered-batch mode of operation asdescribed herein in the Definitions Section, and in other sections ofthe present disclosure.

Details of multiple output receptacles and systems/devices (MPS) aredescribed in International Publication No. WO 97/45810 and U.S. Pat. No.6,311,819, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Document Processing”; U.S.Pat. No. 7,600,626, entitled “Currency Processing and Strapping Systemsand Methods”; U.S. Patent Application No. 2008/0060906 A1, entitled“Currency Processing and Strapping System and Methods”; U.S. Pat. No.6,860,375, entitled “Multiple Pocket Currency Processing Device andMethod”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,588,569, entitled “Currency Handling SystemHaving Multiple Output Receptacles”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,601,687, entitled“Currency Handling System Having Multiple Output Receptacles”; and U.S.Patent Application No. 2008/0006505 A1, entitled “Angled CurrencyProcessing System”, all of which are incorporated by reference herein intheir entireties. Additional details of imaging multiple outputreceptacle systems/devices (imaging MPS) are described in U.S. PatentApplication No. 2005/0029168 A1, entitled “Currency Processing Device,Method and System” and U.S. Patent Application No. 2005/0183928 A1,entitled “Currency Processing Device, Method and System”, both of whichare incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It iscontemplated that any of the MPS devices/systems described in theaforementioned patent applications can be modified or otherwise alteredto include image scanners, such as, for example, image scanners 140 aand/or 140 b, for imaging documents as described in reference to FIG. 1and throughout the present disclosure and otherwise can be modified tooperate in the various manners described in the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, an operator inserts a plurality ofdocuments 135 into the input receptacle 110. According to someembodiments, the document processing device 101 is configured to receiveonly one document at a time. According to other embodiments, thedocument processing device 101 is configured to receive a stack ofdocuments in the input receptacle 110. The transport mechanism 120 iscoupled to the input receptacle 110 and is configured to transport theplurality of documents 135, one at a time, along a transport path in thedirection of arrow A, through the document processing device 101, pastone or more image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, and to one or moreoutput receptacles 130. By “one at a time” it is meant that thedocuments are transported serially in a non-overlapping fashion alongthe transport path. That is, according to some embodiments, multipleones of the documents 135 can be transported serially by the transportmechanism 120 simultaneously. According to some embodiments, each of thedocuments 135 is removed from the input receptacle 110 one at a time bythe transport mechanism 120, and transported along the transport path inthe direction of arrow A in a serial non-overlapping fashion such thateach document can be individually imaged using the one or more imagescanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b. According to some embodiments, thedocuments 135 are transported continuously past the one or more imagescanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b without stopping the documents to imagethe documents. According to some embodiments, the transport mechanism120 is configured to stop transportation of documents such that thedocuments are located in a variety of positions along the transportpath. For example, according to some embodiments, the transportmechanism 120 is configured to halt transportation of documents suchthat desired documents are located upstream from, downstream from,and/or under the image scanner(s) (e.g., image scanners 140 a and/or 140b).

According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101includes a single image scanner 140 a to image one or both sides of eachpassing document. According to other embodiments, the documentprocessing device 101 includes a first image scanner 140 a to image afirst side of each passing document and a second scanner 140 b to imagea second opposing side of each respective passing document. The secondimage scanner 140 b is positioned on an opposing side of the transportpath as compared with the position of the first image scanner 140 a.According to some embodiments, the second image scanner 140 b isopposite or off-set up or downstream from the first image scanner 140 a.According to some embodiments, the imaging of both sides of currencybills enables the device 101 to denominate bills and/or extract a serialnumber from image data associated with bills regardless of theorientation of the currency bill during transportation and/or imaging(e.g., face up/down, forward/reverse). Additional details of imagesensors are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/553,296,entitled “Optical Imaging Sensor For A Document Processing Device”,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

According to some embodiments, the input receptacle 110 is configured toreceive the plurality of documents 135 with a wide edge or a longer edgeof the plurality of documents 135 being initially fed into the documentprocessing device 101. That is, according to some embodiments, the wideedge of the plurality of documents 135 is perpendicular to the directionof document transport (e.g., the direction of arrow A) along thetransport path. According to some embodiments, transporting theplurality of documents 135 with the wide edge leading can increase theoverall processing speed of the document processing device 101, which isfurther described below in the Document Processing Speeds Section, andin other sections of the present disclosure. According to someembodiments, the input receptacle 110 includes two slidable guides thatare adjustable such that the input receptacle 110 can receive theplurality of documents 135 with the wide edge leading or a narrow edgeor shorter edge of the plurality of documents leading. That is,according to some embodiments, the narrow edge of the plurality ofdocuments 135 is perpendicular to the direction of document transport(e.g., the direction of arrow A) along the transport path.

According to some embodiments, for currency bills transported in a wideedge lead manner having a narrow dimension of about 2.6 inches, thetransport mechanism 120 is configured to transport the currency billsfrom the input receptacle with about a 2.6 inch gap between the bills ata 50% duty cycle at about 5200 inches per minute, or about 87 inches persecond. According to some such embodiments, for a feed inefficiency ofabout 13 percent, the transport mechanism is configured to transport thecurrency bills at about 100 inches per second.

According to some embodiments, the document processing device 100 isconfigured to denominate currency bills independent of the currencybill's orientation in the input receptacle 110 of the device 101 (e.g.,forward/backward, face up/down, shifted left/right). According to somesuch embodiments, the device 101 is configured to denominate bills fromimage data associated with the bills. According to some embodiments, theimage data is reproducible as visually readable images of at least aportion of the bills, yet according to other embodiments, the image datais down-sampled to non-visually readable images for denominationpurposes. According to some embodiments, the device 101 can denominatebills in a forward and/or reverse manner. That is, according to someembodiments, the device 101 can denominate a bill regardless of whetherthe bill is fed in a top-edge leading manner or a bottom-edge leadingmanner as the bill is transported along the transport path. According tosome embodiments, a forward/reverse algorithm is executed on the imagedata to denominate the associated bill. It is contemplated that theforward/reverse algorithm can be executed on raw image data and/ordown-sampled image data.

It is contemplated that the device 101 can process a variety ofdifferent sized documents in a single stack of documents, such as, forexample, the device 101 can denominate a stack of documents thatincludes U.S. bills and Euros. According to some embodiments, in theabsence of input receptacle guides to align currency bills therein priorto being transported, bills can be shifted left and/or right. It iscontemplated that the device 101 is configured to denominate suchshifted bills by cropping appropriate portions of generated image data.

According to some embodiments, the device 101 is configured to detect aleading edge of each bill and/or to detect a trailing edge of each bill.According to some embodiments, the document processing device and/orsystems of the present disclosure execute a leading/trailing edgedetection algorithm to determine a location of the leading and/ortrailing edges. By detecting both the leading edge of a bill (and/orleading edge of print or fine line on a bill) and/or a trailing edge(and/or trailing edge of print or fine line on a bill), the device isable to denominate bills that have one distorted edge and/or distortedfine line (such as the fine line found on some U.S. bills). According tosome embodiments, the device 101 is configured to determine a leadingedge and/or a trailing edge of image data that is reproducible as avisually readable image associated with a bill by taking severalreadings along the lead edge and/or trailing edge. According to someembodiments, in response to determining the lead edge and/or thetrailing edge, the device 101 determines the appropriate area(s) on theimage data from the determined lead and/or trailing edge to sample/cropto accurately denominate the bill. According to some embodiments, suchedge detection techniques are referred to as leading/trailing edgedetection.

According to some embodiments, a controller or processor 150 is coupledto the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, the transport mechanism 120,a memory 160, an operator interface or control panel 170, and acommunications port or network device 180. The controller 150 isconfigured to control the operation of the transport mechanism 120 andthe image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b. The controller 150 is alsoconfigured to communicate information to and from the memory 160, thecontrol panel 170, and the communications port 180. For example, thecontroller 150 may send information to and receive operator input fromthe control panel 170. The control panel 170 can be configured todisplay information regarding the documents 135 and/or statusinformation concerning the operation of the document processing system100. For example, according to some embodiments, the control panel 170is configured to display an image or a partial image (e.g., snippetimage) of a document of concern, such as a currency bill that may beidentified as a possible counterfeit currency bill (e.g., a suspectcurrency bill). According to some embodiments, the controller 150 is oneor more computers. According to some embodiments, the controller 150 canreplace the computer 151 such that the document processing system 100only includes the document processing device 101 configured to performthe same operations as the document processing system 100. In theseembodiments, the controller 150 can include a plurality of memorydevices (e.g., RAM, ROM, Hard Drive, etc.), processor(s), etc. necessaryto perform a plurality of document processing operations within thedocument processing device 101. Some examples of document processingoperations, which are described in detail below, include, but are notlimited to, facing (front/back), orienting (forward/reverse), cropping,deskewing, compressing, down-sampling, denominating (forward/reverse),extracting, comparing, determining, storing, transmitting, etc.

According to some embodiments, the operator can initiate documentprocessing via use of the control panel 170. According to someembodiments, the operator can initiate document processing via use ofthe computer 151. According to some embodiments, the control panel 170is a full graphics color touch screen display with various soft touchkeys used to operate the document processing system 100. Alternativelyor additionally, the control panel 170 may contain physical keys orbuttons and/or another type of display such as an LED display. Forexample, a QWERTY keyboard and/or a ten key numerical keypad may beutilized. According to some embodiments, the control panel 170 displayssoft keys or touch keys when appropriate. According to some embodiments,the control panel 170 is integrated within a single housing of thedocument processing device 101. Alternatively, the control panel 170 canbe remotely positioned from the document processing device 101, butcommunicatively connected therewith via a wired connection (e.g.,electronic, optical, other direct connection), a wireless connection, aBluetooth connection, a WI-FI connection, etc. For example, according tosome embodiments, the control panel 170 is a component of the computer151. For another example, the document processing system 100 is locatedat a first financial institution branch location and a control panel 170is located at a second financial institution headquarter location.According to some embodiments, the control panel 170 is a Sharp® displaysuch as a 4.3 inch touchscreen display unit manufactured by Sharp®Corporation.

In response to the operator initiating document processing, thetransport mechanism 120 transports the plurality of documents in thedirection of arrow A in a non-overlapping serial fashion, one at a time,one after the other. As one of the plurality of document 135 a istransported a record and/or a data file (e.g., records 300 a-d of FIGS.3A-D and/or data file 301 of FIG. 3E) associated with the document 135 ais generated using, for example, the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 band/or controller 150. According to some embodiments, the imagescanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b generate the record. Yet, according toother embodiments, the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b generate dataused by the document processing system 100 to generate the records.According to some embodiments, the record at least includes image datathat is reproducible as a visually readable image or a human readableimage of substantially the entire document 135 a (a “full image”) and/orof selected portions of the document 135 a (a “snippet image”). In someembodiments, the record can include a full image, one or more snippetimages, or a combination thereof. According to some embodiments, avisually readable and/or human readable image is defined based on anumber of dots or pixels per inch (“DPI”) that form the image. Forpurposes of the present disclosure, a visually readable image is animage having a resolution of at least 50 DPI×50 DPI—that is, the imageincludes 2500 dots or pixels per square inch. According to someembodiments, the visually readable image is formed with a resolution ofat least 100 DPI×100 DPI. According to some embodiments, the visuallyreadable image is formed with a resolution of at least 200 DPI×100 DPI.According to some embodiments, the visually readable image is formedwith a resolution of at least 200 DPI×200 DPI. As the DPI increase, theamount of data generated by the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 bincreases, which may be a factor in causing relatively slower processingspeeds in some embodiments. According to some embodiments, theresolution of an image is defined as P DPI×Q DPI, where P is theresolution in the x-direction or the direction perpendicular to thedirection of document transport (e.g., perpendicular to the direction ofarrow A), and Q is the resolution in the y-direction or the directionparallel to the direction of transport (e.g., the direction of arrow A).

According to some embodiments, the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b,the controller 150, and/or the memory 160 includes data extractionsoftware such as optical character recognition (OCR) software foridentifying characters contained in one or more fields of the image dataand/or the visually readable images of the plurality of documents 135and extracting the characters as extracted data. It is contemplated thataccording to some embodiments, other software can be used to extractcharacter or symbol information from the image data and/or the visuallyreadable images. According to some embodiments, the document processingsystem 100 uses the OCR software to obtain or extract identifyinginformation from each of the visually readable images. For example, theOCR software may implement a search of image data that is reproducibleas a visually readable image of a currency bill for a serial number datafield and extract a serial number of the currency bill once the datafield is located. According to some embodiments, the OCR software canobtain or extract both serial numbers in a visually readable image of acurrency bill regardless of the face orientation of the currency billduring transportation via the transport mechanism 120. The OCR or othersoftware can be implemented to extract a variety of other types ofinformation, such as, for example, transactional information. Exemplarydata extraction software such as OCR software is described in moredetail below in the Optical Character Recognition Section, and in othersections of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, the visually readable image is formedwith a resolution of 300 DPI×200 DPI, 300 DPI×300 DPI, 400 DPI×200 DPI,or 400 DPI×400 DPI. Such elevated resolutions can be desirable whenusing OCR software to extract relatively small characters from an image.For example, when trying to extract small characters on a currency bill,such as, for example, back plate numbers, check letter and quadrantnumbers, check letter and face plate numbers, etc., the image scanner(s)140 a and/or 140 b can be configured to generate image data that isreproducible as visually readable images having elevated resolutions(e.g., 400 DPI×200 DPI).

According to some embodiments, the extracted data can be tagged to therecord in one or more data fields (e.g., data fields 330 a, 360 a, 380of FIGS. 3A-D). The term “tag” or “tagging” generally refers to thedocument processing system 100 associating alphanumeric characters orsymbols with a record and/or a data file or with image data that isreproducible as a visually readable image in a record and/or a datafile. For example, the record can include the identifying informationextracted from the visually readable image. If the document 135 a is acurrency bill, the identifying information can include a serial number,a denomination, a type of note, a federal reserve letter/number, aseries, a check letter and quadrant number, a check letter and faceplate number, a back plate number, or combinations thereof. If thedocument 135 a is a check, the identifying information can include achecking account number, a routing and transit number, a check number, acheck amount, a drawer name, a drawer address, a payee name, orcombinations thereof. If the document is a deposit slip, the identifyinginformation can include a customer financial account number, a totaldeposit amount, a total currency bill deposit amount, a number ofdeposited currency bills broken down by denomination, a total checkdeposit amount, a number of deposited checks broken down by on-us checksand transit checks, a total on-us check deposit amount, a total transitcheck deposit amount, or combinations thereof.

According to some embodiments, the data tagged to the record includestransactional information such as, for example, a transaction identifiernumber, a customer name or customer identification number, a teller nameor identification number, an employee identification number, a bankaccount number, a store or customer number, a batch number, a subbatchnumber, a batch start time, a batch end time, a subbatch start time, asubbatch end time, a device identifier, or any combination thereof. Thetransactional information can be obtained based on operator inputdirectly or indirectly into the document processing system 100.According to some embodiments, the operator inputs the transactionalinformation into the document processing device 101 using the controlpanel 170. In these embodiments, the manually entered transactionalinformation is automatically associated with the visually readableimages generated using the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b and/orthe records for each of the subsequently processed documents 135associated with the same transactional information. For example, theemployee identification number associated with an employee or operatorof the document processing system 100 can be automatically tagged to allrecords generated while the employee operates the document processingsystem 100.

According to some embodiments, the transaction information (e.g.,transaction identifier number, batch number, subbatch number, bankaccount number, etc.) is obtained and/or extracted from a header cardand/or a trailer card. In some such embodiments, prior to inserting thestack of documents 135 into the input receptacle 110, the operator putsa header card and/or a trailer card onto the stack of documents 135, orotherwise associates the header/trailer card with the plurality ofdocuments 135. According to some embodiments, the header/trailer cardincludes an indicia representing the transactional information. Forexample, the header/trailer card can be a barcoded ticket including abarcode indicia that encodes a bank account number of a customerassociated with the documents 135. In response to initiating thedocument processing, the document processing device 101, via the imagescanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, scans the header/trailer card andaccompanying stack of documents 135 to generate a data file including arecord for the header/trailer card and a record for each of thedocuments 135. According to some embodiments, the record of theheader/trailer card includes a visually readable image of theheader/trailer card and the records of the documents 135 includerespective visually readable images. The document processing system 100is configured to use software to decode the generated image of thebarcode indicia to extract the transaction information. According tosome embodiments, the extracted transactional information can beautomatically associated with the records of the documents 135 withinthe data file. According to some embodiments, the document processingsystem 100 includes a barcode scanner to scan and decode the barcodeindicia as is commonly known in the art and the document processingsystem 100 associates data obtained from the barcode scanner with theappropriate records. According to some embodiments, missing orincomplete transactional information can be corrected or entered in thesame, or similar, manner as the identifying information described belowin the Modes of Operation—Flagging Section, and in other sections of thepresent disclosure.

Details of barcode scanners are described in U.S. Patent Publication No.2002-0020603, entitled “System and Method for Processing Currency Billsand Substitute Currency Media in a Single Device,” which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety. Details of header/trailer cards aredescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,016,767, entitled “System and Method forProcessing Currency and Identification Cards in a Document ProcessingDevice,” and U.S. Pat. No. 7,146,245, entitled “System and Method forProcessing Currency and Identification Cards in a Document ProcessingDevice,” which are both incorporated herein by reference in theirentireties.

According to other such embodiments, prior to inserting the stack ofdocuments 135 into the input receptacle 110, the operator puts a depositslip onto the stack of documents 135, or otherwise associates thedeposit slip with the plurality of documents 135. According to someembodiments, the deposit slip includes a MICR encoded customer financialaccount number and one or more handwritten totals (e.g., total declareddeposit, total currency bill deposit, total check deposit, etc.).According to other embodiments, the deposit slip is machine generatedand/or printed to include a customer financial account number and one ormore printed totals (e.g., total declared deposit, total currency billdeposit, total check deposit, etc.). According to some embodiments, acustomer making a deposit transaction includes the deposit slip with thedocuments being deposited. The deposit slip is a summary of thedocuments being deposited. As discussed above, the deposit slip caninclude transaction information such as, for example, a customerfinancial account number, a total deposit amount, a total currency billdeposit amount, a number of deposited currency bills broken down bydenomination, a total check deposit amount, a number of deposited checksbroken down by on-us checks and transit checks, a total on-us checkdeposit amount, and a total transit check deposit amount. According tosome embodiments, in response to initiating the document processing, thedocument processing device 101, via the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or140 b, images the deposit slip and accompanying stack of documents 135to generate a data file including a record for the deposit slip and arecord for each of the documents 135. According to some embodiments, therecord of the deposit slip includes image data that is reproducible as avisually readable image of the deposit slip and the records of thedocuments 135 include image data that is reproducible as respectivevisually readable images The document processing system 100 isconfigured to use OCR or other software (e.g., CAR/LAR software,handwriting extraction software, etc.) to extract some or all of thetransaction information on the generated image of the deposit slip.According to some embodiments, the extracted transactional informationcan be automatically associated with the records of the documents 135within the data file. According to some alternative embodiments, thedocument processing system 100 includes a MICR reader to read the MICRencoded customer financial account number from the deposit slip.

According to some embodiments, the device 101 and/or system 100 isconfigured to perform a check cashing transaction such as in a bank orother financial institution. For example, a bank customer enters a bankwith a deposit slip and 5 checks having a total value of $3000.00. Thecustomer desires to deposit the $3000.00 of checks and to withdraw$1000.00 of the $3000.00 deposit. According to some embodiments, a bankteller places the deposit slip and checks into the input receptacle ofthe device 101 and images the documents to generate a data fileassociated with the deposit transaction, similar to the data filesdescribed in the Document Records and Data Files Section and inconnection with FIG. 3E, and in other sections of the presentdisclosure. According to some embodiments, the device 101 is configuredto generate a cash-out ticket associated with the $1000.00 beingwithdrawn. According to other embodiments, the teller and/or thecustomer manually fills out a cash-out ticket. According to someembodiments, the manually generated cash-out ticket is imaged along withthe other documents. According to some embodiments, the data fileincludes a record for each check, the deposit slip, and the cash-outticket. The data file can be transmitted or otherwise made available toan item processing system, such as the item processing system describedin the Electronic Portion of Deposit Transaction Section, and in othersections of the present disclosure, to further processing the checkcashing transaction, such as, for example, to update an account of thecustomer to reflect the deposit/withdrawal, to proof the checks, and/orto clear the checks.

Referring back to FIG. 1, according to some embodiments, the memory 160is configured to store and/or buffer the record associated with thedocument 135 a and/or other records associated with other documents forthe same deposit transaction. According to some embodiments, the memory160 is configured to store and/or buffer a record including a full imageof the processed document 135 a or other information from the processeddocuments (e.g., data associated with a picture or visually readableimage of the document 135 a). According to some embodiments, the memory160 is configured to only store and/or buffer a record including avisually readable image of a portion of the document 135 a. For example,for a particular application it may be that the memory 160 only needs tostore an image of half of the document 135 a or a snippet image of thedocument 135 a. According to some embodiments, the memory 160 isconfigured to store and/or buffer the extracted data, such as, forexample, the identifying information and/or the transactionalinformation associated with one or more batches of processed documents,such as, for example, serial numbers, denominations, checking accountnumbers, routing numbers, bank account numbers, batch/depositidentification numbers, etc.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100 isconfigured to store and/or buffer a plurality of records associated witha single deposit transaction of a plurality of documents. In some suchembodiments, in response to the document processing system 100generating a record for each of the plurality of documents, the documentprocessing system 100 generates a data file that includes the pluralityof stored and/or buffered records. The data file can include a pluralityof additional information, such as, for example, an financialinstitution account number, a transaction identifier, a customer name,address, phone number, a total deposit amount, a total currency billdeposit amount, a number of deposited currency bills broken down bydenomination, a total check deposit amount, a number of deposited checksbroken down by on-us checks and transit checks, a total on-us checkdeposit amount, and a total transit check deposit amount. According tosome embodiments, the data file can be transmitted from the documentprocessing system 100 to a financial institution for a credit based onthe total deposit amount associated with the deposit transaction.Further details on transmitting a data file for a credit is describedbelow in reference to FIGS. 4A-B, 5A, 6, and 8A-B.

According to some embodiments, the memory 160 is configured to store adatabase or a suspect database. The database can include a varietyinformation associated with known and/or suspected counterfeit currencybills. For example, the database can include a list of serial numbers ofknown or suspected counterfeit currency bills. For another example, thedatabase can include a list of known combinations of identifyinginformation used on counterfeit currency bills. Due to the difficulty inproducing, for example, counterfeit U.S. currency bills that each havecompletely unique identifying information (e.g., denomination, serialnumber, federal reserve letter/number, series, check letter and quadrantnumber, check letter and face plate number, back plate number, etc.),such known combinations of identifying information are useful indetecting counterfeit currency bills that have varying or unique serialnumbers. Such counterfeit currency bills would be unique but for othersmall constant numbers or letters on the currency bills that remain thesame from currency bill to currency bill. Additionally or alternatively,the database can include a variety of information (e.g., checkingaccount numbers, routing numbers, etc.) associated with checkingaccounts tied to fraudulent activity (e.g., check kiting schemes).According to some embodiments, the memory 160 stores a database, suchas, for example, database 1200 a,b shown in FIGS. 12A-B and described inthe Modes of Operation—Searching/Master Database Section, and in othersections of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101includes an authentication sensor or authentication unit 145. Yetaccording to other embodiments, the document processing device 101 doesnot include an authentication sensor 145. In some such embodiments, thelack of the authentication sensor 145 reduces the overall weight, size,and cost of the document processing device 101. Authentication can beaccomplished using the authentication sensor 145 and/or by using adatabase of serial numbers for known or suspected counterfeit currencybills and a database of checking account numbers for known or suspectedchecks associated with fraudulent activity. The authentication sensor145 is optionally positioned adjacent to the transport path in a similarfashion as the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b. The authenticationsensor 145 is configured to authenticate the documents 135 based on oneor more criteria and/or authentication tests as is commonly known in theart. Some examples of authentication sensors and authentication testsare described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,463, issued on Jun. 17, 1997,entitled “Method and Apparatus For Authenticating Documents IncludingCurrency”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,693, issued on Aug. 4, 1998, entitled“Currency Discriminator and Authenticator”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,601,issued on Nov. 30, 1999, entitled “Method and Apparatus for DocumentIdentification and Authentication”; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,103, issuedon Sep. 28, 1999, entitled “Method and Apparatus for AuthenticatingCurrency”; all of which are incorporated by reference herein in theirentireties.

Authentication by use of the database is accomplished by comparing theidentifying information (e.g., currency bill serial number, at least aportion of a check MICR line) in the records with data or information inthe database. Such authentication using the database does not requirethe presence of the authentication sensor 145. According to someembodiments, the database is stored in the memory 160 of the documentprocessing device 101. Alternatively, the database can be stored in amemory of the computer 151 and/or a memory of a server communicativelyconnected to the document processing system 100. The computer 151 and/orthe server can be configured to compare the identifying information inthe records with the data or information in the database stored on thecomputer 151 and/or the server. In some such embodiments, the documentprocessing system 100 is configured to transmit and/or upload theextracted identifying information and/or records associated with one ormore batches of processed documents to the server for comparison withthe database. Thus, the document processing device 101 is free tocontinue to process additional batches of documents without bogging downthe controller 150 and/or other components by performing the comparisonin real-time and/or on-board of the document processing device 101. Inthe case of the server determining a match, that is, a suspect document,the sever can be configured to transmit a notice and/or a charge-backinstruction and/or signal to the document processing system 100indicating the determination. In the case of the server not determininga match, the server can be configured to transmit a notice and/or signalclearing all of the processed documents associated with the transmittedor uploaded identifying information and/or records. According to someembodiments, the server is configured to compare uploaded records for astack of documents with data in the database and to determine if a matchexists within about two minutes. According to some embodiments, theserver is configured to compare uploaded records for a stack ofdocuments with data in the database and to determine if a match existswithin about ten minutes.

According to some embodiments, the controller 150 compares an extractedserial number tagged to a record associated with a currency bill againstserial numbers in the database. If a complete match or, in someembodiments, a partial match is found, the controller 150 may send asignal or an instruction to the operator control panel 170 to indicatethat a suspect currency bill has been found (e.g., a currency billsuspected of being counterfeit). In some embodiments, the record of thesuspect currency bill may be flagged electronically and/or visually.According to some embodiments, the flagged record can be stored in thememory 160 with a visual notation (e.g., flag code field 333′ in FIG. 3Aand flag code field 363′ in FIG. 3B) or electronic marking (e.g., anasterisk “*” or an exclamation point “!”) that indicates to a personreviewing the record such as the operator that the record is associatedwith a suspect currency bill. According to some embodiments, the flaggedrecord is stored in the memory 160 with a bit set configured to indicatethat the flagged record is associated with a suspect document. In someembodiments, the flagged record can be transmitted to and stored in amemory of the computer 151 and/or a server within or communicativelyconnect to the document processing system 100.

According to some embodiments, a number of types of data can be used toassess whether a currency bill is a suspect currency bill, includingserial number, denomination, series, federal reserve letter/number,check letter and quadrant number, check letter and face plate number,back plate number, signatories, image quality, infrared characteristics,magnetic characteristics, ultraviolet characteristics, color shiftingink, watermarks, metallic threads, holograms, etc., or some combinationthereof. According to some embodiments, all or a portion of these typesof data can be derived from and/or extracted form the currency billand/or the image data that is reproducible as a visually readable imageof the currency bill and may be used for cross-referencing the serialnumber of the currency bill for purposes of determining suspect currencybills. For example, the serial number of the currency bill may berelated to an extracted series. Thus, for a particular currency billhaving a serial number and a series that do not correspond, then thecurrency bill is a suspect currency bill.

As described above, according to some embodiments, the controller 150 isconfigured to communicate information to and from the communicationsport 180. The communications port 180 is configured to becommunicatively connected to a network (e.g., Internet, private network,customer network, financial institution network, LAN, WAN, securednetwork, etc.) to permit information to be transmitted to and from thedocument processing device 101. For example, according to someembodiments, the document processing device 101 comprises an Ethernetcard comprising the communications port 180 that is communicativelyconnected to the network (e.g., the customer network). It iscontemplated that according to some embodiments, the document processingdevice 101 includes two or more communications ports 180 to increase theflow and/or transfer of data to and from the document processing device101. As described above, the controller 150 can transmit a data fileincluding a plurality of records associated with a deposit transactionfrom the document processing device 101. According to some embodiments,the data file is communicated via the communications port 180 from thedocument processing device 101 over a customer network to the customercomputer 151. According to some embodiments, the data files arecommunicated from the document processing device 101 and/or the customercomputer 151 over the network to a financial institution systemassociated with a customer financial institution account. According tosome embodiments, the financial institution is configured to apply aprovisional credit to the customer financial institution account basedon information in the data file.

As described below in the Deposit Transaction Section and/or theElectronic Portion of Electronic Transaction Section, and in othersections of the present disclosure, according to some embodiments, thefinancial institution is configured to apply a provisional credit for acomplete deposit or a percentage of the deposit, such as, for example,the provisional credit can be given for 80% or 90% of a deposit.According to some embodiments, the financial institution is configuredto apply a final credit for all of or a percentage of a deposit.According to some embodiments, the transmitted data file may includeinformation relating to a plurality of documents including a depositslip, currency bills, checks, identifying information, and transactionalinformation.

According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101 and/orsystem 100 can provide an operator a receipt and/or a printed recordproviding details of a transaction such as copies of the imageddocuments and/or portions thereof, such as copies of image snippets. Therecord can also include identifying information for the transaction suchas operator information, processing device information, uniquetransaction identifiers, etc. The record can be printed by a printerintegral with and/or communicatively connected to the documentprocessing device 101 and/or system 100. Alternatively, the receipt canbe sent electronically such as by an e-mail or an entry into a log.According to some embodiments, the operator can download and/or uploadrecords to a printer. It is contemplated that the records can be storedin a memory of the printer and/or printed upon receipt of the records inmemory and/or at a later time.

According to some embodiments, an operator of a document processingdevice and/or system can print a deposit transaction receipt for a bankcustomer/depositor that includes visually readable images of alldocuments or a portion of the documents included in the deposit. Forexample, for a bank customer that deposits five $20 bills and threechecks, the deposit transaction receipt can include images of each ofthe five $20 bills, images of each of the three checks, or anycombination thereof. According to some embodiments, a deposittransaction receipt only includes images of checks included in adeposit. According to some embodiments, a deposit transaction receiptonly includes images of currency bills included in a deposit. Accordingto some embodiments, a deposit transaction receipt includes images ofchecks included in a deposit and currency bill denominations forcurrency bills included in the deposit. According to some embodiments, adeposit transaction receipt includes images of checks included in adeposit and currency bill denominations and serial numbers for currencybills included in the deposit.

It is contemplated that according to some embodiments, a bank keeps areceipt or internal record in electronic form and/or printed form foreach transaction. The receipts can be printed and kept in a printedjournal and/or electronically stored in a memory of the device and/orsystem, and/or in a memory communicatively connected thereto.

According to some embodiments, printing a deposit transaction receiptfor each bank customer allows the bank to terminate the physicaldocument paper trail for checks at the point of interacting with thebank customer and taking/recording the deposit as the receipt providesthe bank customer with instant proof of deposit and the bank can furtherprocess and/or proof the checks via the electronic images of the checks.That is, the bank can destroy the deposited checks because the bank canprocess the checks via image data that is reproducible as a visuallyreadable image of the checks and the bank customer has a printed receiptincluding a visually readable image of at least a portion of the checks.

For example, after receiving one or more checks for deposit from acustomer, according to some embodiments, the bank physically destroys(e.g., shreds) the checks after they have been processed and imaged bythe document processing device 101 and/or system 100. According to someembodiments, the checks are destroyed at the point of deposit after theyhave been processed and imaged by the document processing device 101and/or system 100. For example, according to some embodiments, thedocument processing device 101 and/or system 100 is coupled to adocument destruction device such as a shredder or granulator and checksare automatically routed to the document destruction device after eachcheck has been properly imaged and/or after the deposit transactioninvolving the checks has been accepted by the customer and/or operatorof the document processing device 101 and/or system 100.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100 and/ordevice 101 is configured to process casino cashout tickets bearing oneor more respective barcodes thereon. According to such embodiments, thedevice 101 is configured to operate in an imaging mode and/or a casinoticket mode to image tickets and create a record for each ticketprocessed. The records can include a variety of information and orimages, such as, for example, an image or snippet image of the ticket,an extracted barcode number, a time of processing, a teller identifier,a casino identifier, etc. Additional details on imaging and/orprocessing casino tickets can be found in U.S. Patent Application No.2009/0087076 A1, entitled “System and Method For Processing CurrencyBills and Tickets”.

Referring now to FIGS. 2A-2C, a document processing device 101′ is shownaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 2A is aperspective view of the document processing device 101′ and FIGS. 2B and2C are cross-sectional views of the document processing device 101′.According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101′reflects an exemplary physical embodiment of the document processingdevice 101 described above in relation to FIG. 1 and throughout thisdisclosure. According to some embodiments, the document processingdevice 101′ includes an input receptacle 110′, a transport mechanism120′, an output receptacle 130′, and a housing 190. According to someembodiments, the input receptacle 110′, the transport mechanism 120′,and the output receptacle 130′ are the same as, or similar to, the inputreceptacle 110, the transport mechanism 120, and the output receptacle130, respectively, as described above in relation to the FIG. 1.According to some embodiments, the input receptacle 110′ is configuredto receive a plurality of documents with a wide edge or a longer edge ofthe plurality of documents being initially fed into the documentprocessing device 101′ in the same, or similar, manner as describedabove in reference to the input receptacle of the document processingdevice 101, that is, the device 101′ is adapted to transport documentsin a wide-edge leading manner.

According to some embodiments, an operator interface or control panel170′ is coupled to the housing 190. The control panel 170′ can be thesame as, or similar to, the control panel 170 described above inrelation to FIG. 1. The control panel 170′ is shown in a closed or downposition. According to some embodiments, the control panel 170′ can berotationally or movably coupled to the housing 190, such that, thecontrol panel 170′ can be rotated with respect to the housing 190 tochange a viewing angle of the control panel 170′. In some embodiments,the control panel 170′ can also be repositioned to increase access tothe transport mechanism 120′ such as in response to a document jam. Insome embodiments, the control panel 170′ is a full graphics color touchscreen configured to display operational instructions, configurationmenus/screens, warnings, visually readable images of documents and/orsnippet images, softkey buttons, etc. to an operator of the documentprocessing device 101′. According to other embodiments, the controlpanel 170′ is positioned away from or detached from the housing 190, yetcommunicatively connected to the document processing device 101′ via awired (e.g., electrical, optic, other direct connection) or wirelessconnection.

According to some embodiments, the transport mechanism 120′ includes anupper transport plate assembly 120 a′ and a lower transport plateassembly 120 b′. As shown in FIG. 2B, the upper transport plate assembly120 a′ is in an open position. The open position of the transportmechanism 120′ allows for easy removal of jammed documents, cleaning,and maintenance, all from the front of the document processing device101′, which will be described in greater detail below in reference toFIGS. 13A-E. FIG. 2C illustrates the upper and lower transport plateassemblies 120 a′ and 120 b′ in a closed position oroperating/processing position. The upper and lower transport plateassemblies 120 a′ and 120 b′ can each include a plurality of mechanicaland/or electrical components, such as, for example, UV sensors, IRsensors, magnetic sensors, imaging sensors, hold-down wheels, drivewheels, spring wheels, LEDs and/or other light sources. According tosome embodiments, the upper transport plate assembly 120 a′ includes afirst image scanner 140 a′ and the lower transport plate assembly 120 b′includes a second image scanner 140 b′. The first and the second imagescanners 140 a′ and 140 b′ are the same as, or similar to, the imagescanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b described above in relation to FIG. 1.According to some embodiments, the first and the second image scanners140 a′ and 140 b′ and/or the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b are atleast about 9.1 inches wide. That is, the dimension of the imagescanners that is perpendicular to the direction of transport ofdocuments is at least about 9.1 inches. According to some embodiments,the first and the second image scanners 140 a′ and 140 b′ and/or theimage scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b are about 9.1 inches wide. Accordingto some embodiments, the first and the second image scanners 140 a′ and140 b′ and/or the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b are wide enough toscan and/or image business or commercial checks in a wide edge leadingfeed and standard and A4 sheets of paper with a narrow edge leadingfeed.

According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101′ iscommunicatively connected to a computer or a processor (e.g., computer151) to form a document processing system, such as the documentprocessing system 100. Alternatively, the computer or processor isintegral within the housing 190 such that the document processing device101′ corresponds to a singly housed document processing system.

According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101′ has aheight H₂ of less than about twelve inches, a width W of less than aboutfourteen inches, and a depth D of less than about fifteen inches.According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101′ has aheight H₁ of less than about nine and a half inches, a width W of lessthan about fourteen inches, and a depth D of less than about thirteenand a half inches.

According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101′ has afootprint of less than about two square feet. According to someembodiments, the document processing device 101′ has a footprint of lessthan about one and a half square feet. According to some embodiments,the document processing device 101′ has a footprint of less than one anda quarter square feet.

According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101′weighs less than about 35 lbs. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing device 101′ weighs less than about 25 lbs. Accordingto some embodiments, the document processing device 101′ weighs abouttwenty lbs. According to some embodiments, the document processingdevice 101′ is compact and configured to be rested on a tabletop orcountertop.

According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101′ isconfigured to be placed on a surface and be opened to be permit removalor clearing of a document jam, cleaning, and/or maintenance withouthaving to be moved or otherwise repositioned and without consumingadditional footprint space while being in the open position. That is, asillustrated in FIGS. 2B and 2C, the footprint associated with the device101′ in its open state (permitting access to its interior transportpath) is the same as the footprint of the device 101′ in its closedoperational state. Likewise, as illustrated in FIGS. 2B and 2C,according to some embodiments, the volume occupied the device 101′ inits open state (permitting access to its interior transport path) is thesame as the volume of the device 101′ in its closed operational state.In some such embodiments, the housing 190 of the document processingdevice 101′ can be positioned with a back side 190 a adjacent to a walland does not need to be moved away from the wall when the device isopened as illustrated in FIG. 2B.

According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101′ canbe a part of a larger document processing system such as, for example,systems used for currency bill sorting and/or other types of documentsorting.

According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101′ isconfigured to operate in a strapping mode and is coupled with astrapping unit. According to some embodiments, in the strapping mode ofoperation, the document processing device is configured to process apredetermined number of documents, such as, for example, 100 currencybills having the same denomination (e.g., one hundred $5's), and totransport the documents to the strapping unit to be physically strapped.According to some such embodiments, each strap is associated with astrap number that can be associated with each of the documents in thestrap. For example, the strap number can be tagged to a recordassociated with each of the documents and stored in a memory device.According to some embodiments, the records associated with the documentsin a particular strap can be stored in the memory together. Additionaldetails on strapping units are in U.S. Pat. No. 7,600,626, entitled“Currency Processing and Strapping Systems and Methods” and U.S. PatentApplication No. 2008/0060906 A1, entitled “Currency Processing andStrapping System and Methods”, both of which were previouslyincorporated by reference in their entireties herein.

Optical Character Recognition

As described herein, the document processing devices and systems of thepresent disclosure are configured to process documents. According tosome embodiments, processing documents includes imaging the documents toproduce image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image ofat least a portion of each document—that is, a visually readable imageis reproducible from or using image data. According to some embodiments,the document processing devices and systems are further configured torun or execute one or more OCR algorithms to extract one or more sets ofcharacters from the image data for one or more documents.

According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101′executes an OCR algorithm to extract a serial number from image dataassociated with a currency bill processed by the document processingdevice 101′. The currency bill bears the serial number for which theimage data is generated. According to some embodiments, the OCRalgorithms of the present disclosure are run or executed on-board of thedocument processing device in real-time. That is, the documentprocessing device extracts characters from image data as documents arebeing processed using on-board processor(s) and/or controller(s). Thedocument processing device can execute the OCR algorithms to extractdata from a stack of documents at a variety of document processingspeeds, such as, for example, those speeds described herein in theDocument Processing Speed Section, and in other sections of the presentdisclosure.

For example, the document processing device 101′ includes one or moreprocessors and/or controllers within the housing 190 configured toexecute one or more OCR algorithms to extract serial numbers from imagedata being generated as documents are being transported by the documentprocessing device 101′. According to some embodiments, the on-board,real-time processing of the image data associated with documents beingtransported allows the document processing device 101′ to determine if aserial number can be completely extracted from the image data for aparticular currency bill within a predetermined confidence level priorto transporting a second currency bill from the input receptacle 110′ tothe output receptacle 130′. According to some such embodiments, thedocument processing device 101′ can flag a data extraction errordocument by stopping the transport of documents such that a currencybill associated with image data that cannot be completely and accuratelyOCRed to produce an acceptable extracted serial number is the lastdocument delivered to the output receptacle 130′.

According to some embodiments, in response to a data extraction error orin response to a document processing device of the present disclosurefailing to completely extract desired information (e.g., currency billserial number or check MICR line) from a document (e.g., currency billor check), it is contemplated that the device is configured to reprocessthe image data associated with that document with a second OCRalgorithm. According to some embodiments, the second OCR algorithm is amore robust OCR algorithm that requires additional processing powerand/or additional memory/RAM to run or execute. According to someembodiments, the execution of the secondary OCR algorithms is a slowerprocess than the initial execution of the first OCR algorithm. Accordingto some embodiments, the device is configured to post-process the imagedata that causes the data extraction error by running the more robustalgorithm to attempt to extract the desired information from the imagedata. According to other embodiments, the device executes the secondarymore robust OCR algorithm while the device continues to transport and/orprocess other documents in a stack of documents being processed.According to some embodiments, in response to a data extraction error,the device transmits the image data associated with the data extractionerror document to another device and/or system to reprocess the imagedata with a secondary OCR algorithm.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices andsystems of the present disclosure are configured to run or execute oneor more OCR algorithms that are programmed to detect image skew, to cropand rotate snippet images, to locate characters, to remove backgrounddata from the snippet image, to segment characters in the snippet image,to trim segmented characters in the snippet image, to compare characterswith one or more sets of templates, and finally identify each character.According to some embodiments, the one or more OCR algorithms areconfigured to make use of facing and orienting information such as eachimage's front/back orientation and forward/reverse orientation. Suchfacing and orienting information is implemented by the one or more OCRalgorithms to determine expected locations of data of interest forextraction, such as, for example, the expected location of a serialnumber in an image of a front of a currency bill oriented in a forwardmanner.

According to some embodiments, the one or more OCR algorithms areconfigured to detect image skew. That is, the OCR algorithms areexecuted to detect if image data that is reproducible as a visuallyreadable image of a document, such as a currency bill, is skewed. Theone or more OCR algorithms are programmed to find top and side edges ofan image and compute two skew angles. One of the skew angles isdetermined from a left side of the image and the other skew angle isdetermined from a right side of the image. The two skew angles arenecessary to handle images of currency bills that are torn down thecenter and imaged in a “V” like shape. According to some embodiments,calculating the two skew angles allows the OCR algorithm to extract aserial number from each half of the bill such as for U.S. currency billsthat include two identical serial numbers, one serial number from eachhalf of each bill. The two skew angles can be used to rotate the regionsincluding the serial number to deskew the respective regions of interestprior to extracting. In the case of an un-torn document, the two skewangles are substantially equal.

According to some embodiments, the one or more OCR algorithms areprogrammed to determine a location of the top two corners of the imageThe location of the top two corners is used in conjunction with the twoskew angles to crop and rotate smaller windows referred to herein assnippet images. For images of currency bills, according to someembodiments, the snippet image contains the serial number portion of theimage.

According to some embodiments, the snippet images are rotated by thedetermined skew angle with respect to one or both of the determinedcorners of the image such that the characters contained within thesnippet image, such as, for example, a serial number of a currency bill,are aligned horizontally/parallel with the top edge of the snippetimage. According to some embodiments, the one or more OCR algorithms areprogrammed to employ an orthogonal transform of the form:

${R(\theta)} = \begin{bmatrix}{\cos(\theta)} & {\sin(\theta)} \\{- {\sin(\theta)}} & {\cos(\theta)}\end{bmatrix}$The orthogonal transform can be executed on one or more pixels withinthe snippet image to calculate a trigonometrically derived constant thatis used to determine a path for translating each pixel within thesnippet image to deskew the snippet image. According to someembodiments, the orthogonal transform is not calculated for each pixelwithin the snippet image, but rather, to save time on performing suchdeskewing computations, the orthogonal transform is only computed onceper snippet image. In certain embodiments, the trigonometrically derivedconstant is used to slide from pixel to pixel within the snippet image,thereby rotating each pixel, one at a time, with respect to one or bothof the determined corners of the image.

According to some embodiments, the one or more OCR algorithms areprogrammed to assume that characters of interest, such as a serialnumber, are contained within the image snippet. According to someembodiments, the snippet image is large enough to ensure the serialnumber is contained within the snippet image, but it is too large toexecute a background removal algorithm in a predetermined time frame.According to some embodiments, to shorten the processing time, the topof the serial number is located within the snippet image withoutdetecting other text, numbers, and pictures that are included within thesnippet image along with the serial number.

According to some embodiments, a bimodal distribution algorithm isexecuted to separate background pixels (e.g., unwanted pixels,artifacts, etc.) from foreground pixels (e.g., pixels of interest,serial number pixels) in a snippet image. A pixel intensity histogramcan be computed for all the pixels in the snippet image. According tosome embodiments, the pixel intensity histogram includes two localmaxima or two separate peaks. One peak corresponds to the backgroundpixels and the other peak corresponds to the foreground pixels (pixelsof interest). The foreground distribution in the histogram and thebackground distribution in the histogram have different means oraverages. According to some such embodiments, an intensity thresholdvalue between the foreground mean and the background mean is determined.According to some embodiments, any pixel having an intensity value lowerthan the determined intensity threshold is considered a foreground pixel(pixel of interest), which is part of the serial number, and any pixelhaving an intensity value higher than the determined intensity thresholdis considered a background pixel (non-pixels of interest). According tosome embodiments, such a separation of foreground pixels and backgroundpixels undesirably classifies non-pixels of interest, such as, forexample, artifacts like words, numbers, symbols, and pictures alsocontained in the snippet image, as foreground pixels.

According to some embodiments, the one or more OCR algorithms areprogrammed to locate a top edge of a serial number in a snippet image byevaluating a waveform. The waveform is created by totaling a number ofpixels determined to be below the intensity threshold for each row ofthe snippet image. Each sample in the waveform corresponds to the numberof foreground pixels in a corresponding row of pixels in the snippetimage. According to some embodiments, the one or more OCR algorithms areprogrammed to process the waveform for certain events such as a sharprise in the waveform corresponding to a top of a serial number containedin the snippet image or for a sharp drop in the waveform correspondingto a bottom of the serial number. That is, the one or more OCRalgorithms process the waveform from, for example, left to right lookingfor a first instance that the waveform crosses a threshold from low tohigh.

According to some embodiments, to determine a top and bottom edge of aserial number in a snippet image, the one or more OCR algorithms mustlocate a portion of the waveform that remains above a threshold withoutdropping below the threshold for a predetermined number of rows, thedrop indicating a location of the bottom edge. The range of samples ornumber of rows the waveform must remain above the threshold correspondsto the height of the characters contained in the serial number. If theone or more OCR algorithms do not locate the top and the bottom of theserial number after evaluating all of the rows, then the threshold canbe adjusted higher and the one or more OCR algorithms are re-executed toattempt to locate the top and bottom again. According to someembodiments, in response to several iterations of re-executing the oneor more OCR algorithms that have failed to determine the top and thebottom of the serial number, the waveform can be computed again with alower intensity threshold that separates the foreground pixels from thebackground pixels. For example, if the initial intensity threshold wasselected as 100, the adjusted intensity threshold can be selected as apredetermined percentage, such as, for example, 90, 85, or 75, etc.According to some embodiments, in response to the one or more OCRalgorithms failing to locate a top and a bottom of a serial numberwithin a snippet image after a predetermined number of iterations or apredetermined time, the algorithms time out and the serial number isno-called for the snippet image.

The one or more OCR algorithms of the present disclosure can beprogrammed to remove background information, which can also be referredto as binarization of a snippet image. According to some embodiments,background removal transforms the rows of a gray-scale snippet imagebetween the top and bottom of the serial number into a binary image bysetting dark pixels to a foreground value, such as 1, and all otherpixels to a background value, such as 0. According to some suchembodiments, the one or more OCR algorithms are programmed to execute anadaptive thresholding algorithm that can accommodate wide varieties ofbackground intensities and seek to remove large dark pictures thatconventional adaptive thresholding would ordinarily place in theforeground.

According to some embodiments, for a snippet image having a resolutionof about 200 DPI×100 DPI the algorithms employ adaptive means oraverages computed from a sliding window for average background andforeground intensities. According to some embodiments, the adaptivemeans or averages are initialized using the calculated background meanand the calculated foreground mean described above in reference to thebimodal distribution algorithm.

According to some embodiments, the intensity of each pixel in thesnippet image is compared to an adaptive threshold that is calculatedfrom a current contrast range in the area of that pixel. The contrastrange is calculated as a difference from a running average of backgroundpixel intensity to a running average of foreground pixel intensity.According to some embodiments, in response to a pixel having anintensity that is below the adaptive threshold, the pixel is binarizedas foreground information or black. Alternatively, the pixel isbinarized as background or white. According to some embodiments, inresponse to a pixel being determined to be foreground information orblack, the average of foreground pixel intensity is updated.Alternatively, the average of background pixel intensity is updated.

According to some embodiments, the one or more OCR algorithms areprogrammed to execute a gradient edge detector algorithm to determine ifa pixel is a portion of a character of interest, such as a serial numbercharacter, or a portion of an unwanted artifact. According to someembodiments, the gradient edge detector evaluates two pixels in eachdirection from a pixel of interest. That is, the gradient edge detectorevaluates two pixels above, below, to the left, and to the right of eachpixel of interest, thereby evaluating 8 surrounding pixels. The gradientedge detector algorithm makes use of known information such as a serialnumber character dimension. For example, if the gradient edge detectoralgorithm determines that a pixel of interest, that is a pixel set asforeground information or black, is surrounded by foreground informationor black pixels for two pixels in all directions, then the gradient edgedetector algorithm can determine that the pixel being evaluated is not apixel of a serial number character, but rather is a portion of anunwanted artifact within the snippet image because no character in thecharacter set includes a pixel without an edge in at least 1 horizontalor vertical direction for a snippet image having a resolution of 200DPI×100 DPI.

According to some embodiments, the one or more OCR algorithms of thepresent disclosure are programmed to segment or separate each individualcharacter within a snippet image. For example, for a serial numbersnippet image, the algorithms separate the serial number into separatecharacters by finding edges of the determined foreground pixelgroupings. According to some embodiments, each edge (top, bottom, leftand right) is determined for each character. The segmentation ofcharacters may come across artifacts that are present within the snippetimage. According to some embodiments, if artifacts were detected andbinarized as foreground information or black, the algorithm thendiscards such pixels as a non-character pixels. According to someembodiments, the algorithms employ pre-programmed information ofcharacter spacing and character size to segment the characters. Forexample, the algorithms make use of pre-programmed information such asinformation that some serial numbers on certain currency bills havelarger character spacing at specific areas of the character sequence.According to some embodiments, the extra spacing is programmed into, oravailable to, the algorithms to determine if any unwanted artifacts wereidentified as being a character pixel.

Another challenge of segmentation is identifying artifacts such asgraffiti, soil, or residual background information within a snippetimage. According to some embodiments, the algorithms employpre-programmed information of character spacing and character size toaccurately assume a location of the edges of a character when no edge isactually present due to unwanted foreground information connectingcharacters together.

According to some embodiments, the one or more OCR algorithms of thepresent disclosure are programmed to trim unwanted artifacts fromsegmented characters. The unwanted artifacts can interfere withsegmentation or the contrast of a snippet image can be very low orblurry, which results in inexact character edges. In some embodiments,extra pixels surrounding a segmented character are determined to beforeground information when in fact the pixel is not part of the actualcharacter. According to some embodiments, the unwanted foreground pixelsare trimmed away from the segmented character using known heights andwidths of each character to match the height and width of a knowncharacter template. According to some embodiments, the algorithms locatea side of the segmented character with the least number of foregroundpixels and eliminate that row or column. It is contemplated that,according to some embodiments, such trimming allows for a more accuratecall or determination of segmented characters.

According to some embodiments, in response to the one or more OCRalgorithms of the present disclosure trimming and/or segmentingcharacters within a snippet image, the algorithms are further programmedto compare the characters with a plurality of character templates.According to some embodiments, the algorithms employ a probabilisticscoring technique. Probabilistic templates are created and stored in anaccessible memory of a document processing device or system for eachpotential character within a snippet image of interest. Each pixelwithin each template is given a weight based on the uniqueness of thatpixel's location across all potential characters in a character set. Forexample, a pixel location can be given a weight between −10 and +10,where −10 indicates that the pixel location is very highly probable tobe OFF or white or a background pixel for a template that matches thecharacter and where +10 indicates that the pixel location is very highlyprobable to be ON or black or a foreground pixel for a matchingtemplate. Put another way, the probability templates indicate thatcertain pixels are weighted more heavily based on the uniqueness of thatpixel in a particular character as compared to other characters in thecharacter set.

According to some embodiments, segmented characters are scored againsteach probabilistic template in a character set. The foreground pixel andbackground pixel probabilities are summed and normalized to a maximumpossible score for each probabilistic template. According to someembodiments, the template yielding the highest probability score is setas the initial call of the segmented character. According to someembodiments, probability scoring can be improved by emphasizing the topor the bottom portion of certain probabilistic templates because thatregion includes more information or more pixels than the other portion.

According to some embodiments, in addition to comparing the segmentedcharacters with probabilistic templates, in response to that comparisonresulting in a called character, a secondary set of uniqueness templatescan be used to further verify the call of the character. For example,certain characters are statistically similar, such as, for example, Cand G, or D and O. In these examples, particular areas of the charactercan be re-examined with a smaller window that possibly will result inthe algorithm changing the initial character decision. The area(s)examined is generally a small area that is unique between the twocharacters in question. For example, the lower right tip of the G isunique from the C. For another example, the rounded left corners of theO are unique from the D. According to some embodiments, re-executing thealgorithm to look at these smaller windows can provide more accuratecalling results. According to some embodiments, the algorithms furtherexamine the smaller window portion of the original, unbinarizedgray-scale image to determine a call of the character.

According to some embodiments, the one or more OCR algorithms of thepresent disclosure are programmed to extract both serial numbers fromimage data associated with a currency bill. It is contemplated thatcomparing each independently extracted serial number can improve anoverall call accuracy of the document processing device or system.According to some embodiments, in response to both serial numbers beingcalled, the two extracted serial numbers are compared. In response tocorresponding characters from both extracted serial numbers matching,that character is reported as long as the character confidence score isgreater than the minimum confidence threshold. Alternatively, if thecharacter does not meet a minimum confidence threshold, the character isno-called.

According to some embodiments, a character from both serial numbers aremismatched, that is the corresponding characters from the two extractedserial numbers do not match. In such embodiments, the algorithms areprogrammed to determine if either serial number character was overturnedduring execution of a secondary uniqueness template algorithm. In thecase that a secondary uniqueness template was used to alter an originalcharacter call from the probability templates for either of the twomismatched characters, the character is automatically no-called. In thecase that a secondary uniqueness template was not used to alter theprobability template results, and the characters are still mismatched,the algorithms are programmed to determine a separation or gap betweenthe first and second best probability scoring templates. The serialnumber that has the largest separation or gap between the first and thesecond scoring templates is used as the final character call. Accordingto some embodiments, the serial number that has the largest separationor gap between the first and the second scoring template is only used ifthe separation is larger than a predetermined percentage, such as, forexample, about 10%. In such embodiments, in response to the separationbeing less than 10%, the serial number character is no-called.

Document Records and Data Files

Referring now to FIG. 3A, an exemplary record 300 a for a currency billis illustrated according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.According to some embodiments, the record 300 a comprises several partsincluding, but not limited to, one or more image sections 310, 320 and aplurality of currency bill identifying information data fields 330 a.While the record 300 a is shown according to a non-limiting example, itis contemplated that the record 300 a can include any number, size,shape, type, and orientation of image sections and/or data fields. Thefirst image section 310 includes a visually readable image of a firstside of the currency bill. Similarly, the second image section 320includes a visually readable image of a reverse side of the currencybill. The visually readable images can be reproduced by a display devicesuch as a computer monitor or by a printer device. According to someembodiments, the visually readable image sections 310, 320 can includeone or more snippet images in lieu of or in addition to the full imagesas shown in FIG. 3A. In both the first and the second image sections310, 320 there is identifying information that can be extracted usingOCR software and/or other extraction software and tagged into one ormore of the identifying information or extracted data fields 330 a. Forexample, the front side of the one dollar currency bill illustrated inthe first image section 310 includes a serial number 311 and the backside of the currency bill illustrated in the second image section 320includes a back plate number 321. Both of these pieces of identifyinginformation may be extracted using OCR software and tagged to datafields 311′ and 321′, respectively, for use during subsequent analysisand/or processing of the currency bill.

According to some embodiments, the currency bill identifying informationdata fields 330 a can include: a serial number data field 311′, asignatories data field 312′, a denomination data field 313′, a seriesdata field 314′, a back plate number data field 321′, a check letter andquadrant number data field 315′, a check letter and face plate numberdata field 316′, and/or a federal reserve letter/number data field 317′.To better understand these various data fields, reference is made to theimage fields 310 and 320, which include images of a $1 currency billhaving a variety of identifying information. For example, the $1currency bill shown has a serial number 311, two signatories 312(Treasurer's signature and signature of the Secretary of Treasury), anumeric denomination 313 a in addition to one or more writtendenominations 313 b, series 314, a back plate number 321, a check letterand quadrant number 315, a check letter and face plate number 316, afederal reserve number 317 a, and a federal reserve letter 317 b. Thevarious corresponding currency bill identifying information data fields330 a include data, such as, for example, alphanumeric data orcharacters extracted from the visually readable images of the $1currency bill in the image sections 310, 320. For example, the serialnumber 311 is extracted from the image data that is reproducible as avisually readable currency bill image and tagged or recorded into theserial number data field 311′.

According to some embodiments, the record 300 a includes a flag codefield 333′ such as a suspect flag. The flag code field 333′ can be usedto visually and/or electronically flag the record 300 a as a suspect, ano-show, unexpected, etc. According to some embodiments, the flag codefield 333′ includes characters and/or symbols that can be the word“suspect” or any other term or phrase or bit or bit-sequence to indicatea condition or flag status associated with the record 300 a. Forexample, a “1” in a suspect field may indicate the record has beentagged to indicate it is associated with a suspect document and a “0”may indicate that the record has not been tagged which would indicatethat the record is not associated with a suspect document. Likewise, theflag code field 333′ may comprise different portions or codes associatedwith one or more flagging conditions such no-call, find document, etc.

According to some embodiments, the flag code field 333′ can be used tovisually and/or electronically include a reason associated with why adocument was flagged. For example, for a currency bill, the documentprocessing device may identify the currency bill as suspect based on anyof a number of attributes, such as, for example, a serial numberextracted from the currency bill matching a serial number in a suspector blacklist database, non-conforming magnetic properties,non-conforming infrared characteristics, non-conforming UVcharacteristics, non-conforming iridescence characteristics,non-conforming thread characteristics, non-conforming watermarkcharacteristics, non-conforming paper characteristics, and other typesof security characteristics known in the art. That is, according to someembodiments, an operator of a document processing device and/or systemreviewing and/or searching records, such as described below in the Modesof Operation—Searching/Master Database Section, and in other sections ofthe present disclosure, can determine the reason that a particularrecord was tagged as being associated with a suspect document by lookingup the reason contained in the flag code field 333′.

According to some alternative embodiments, a record including adetermined suspect attribute and image data associated with a documentcan be created and stored in a suspect database for later evaluation.According to some such embodiments, a serial number of the determinedsuspect document, for currency bills, can further be included in therecord and the records can be stored in a memory of a documentprocessing device such that subsequent identification of currency billsincluding the serial number and/or the same counterfeit attributes canbe readily identified.

In addition to the image sections 310, 320 and the currency billidentifying information data fields 330 a, the record 300 a may alsoinclude transaction information data fields 330 b, such as, for example,alphanumeric or biometric data associated with a person or a bankaccount associated with the processed documents. For example, the record300 a may also include an account number data field 331′ that isassociated with a financial institution account that the currency billwas deposited into for a credit. The account number 331′ can be thefinancial institution account number (e.g., bank account number) of acustomer, such as a store, depositing the currency bill associated withthe record 300 a into its financial institution account. According tosome embodiments, the deposit of the currency bill is associated with adeposit transaction, where the deposit transaction involves thedepositing of a plurality of documents into the financial institutionaccount along with the currency bill associated with the record 300 a.According to some embodiments, the deposit transaction can be identifiedwith a deposit transaction identifier 332′ and/or batch identifier.According to some embodiments, the deposit transaction identifier is aunique identifier. The deposit transaction identifier 332′ can be analphanumeric string of characters (e.g., ABC0005) that identifies adeposit and/or financial transaction at least involving the currencybill. According to some embodiments, the deposit transaction identifier332′ identifies the customer (e.g., store ABC) and/or a number of thetransaction between the customer and the financial institution (e.g.,5th transaction between the store ABC and the financial institution).The transaction information may be tagged to the record 300 a by thedocument processing device 101, 101′, or a processor, and/or a computer(e.g., the computer 151) coupled thereto. According to some embodiments,the transaction information can be obtained from an operator, a depositslip (e.g., virtually created deposit slip or MICR encoded depositslip), a header/trailer card, a networked bank computer, and/or tellersoftware. According to some embodiments, the record 300 a may alsoinclude an operator or teller field (not shown). The operator field canbe used to provide the identity of the operator of the device 101, 101′for a transaction. For example, the operator field provides the identityof a bank teller or cashier associated with a transaction. According tosome embodiments, a personnel field could be included in the record toidentify the individual from whom processed documents were obtained(e.g., individual cashier or bank teller) and an operator field could beincluded to identify the operator of the device which may be beneficialwhere the operator of the device 101, 101′ differs from the individualproviding a stack of documents to be processed by the device 101, 101′.As will be described in more detail below, such fields may be useful insubsequently identifying a teller or an operator and/or other personnelassociated with a particular document, for example, where a currencybill is later determined to be counterfeit and/or determined to bemissing.

According to some embodiments, other image sections and/or data fieldsmay also be included for a currency bill, such as, a data field relatingto the issuing federal reserve bank, the country of origin (if multiplecountry currencies are accepted), and others. It is also contemplatedthat foreign currency may have other useful information on the bill,such as, other security measures which it may be useful to extract fromthe image of the bill. One example would be a data field identifying thesize of the currency document. In many foreign countries, the size ofthe currency bill varies with denomination.

According to some embodiments, the record 300 a only includes a snippetimage of a serial number and a serial number data field. According tosome embodiments, the record 300 a only includes a snippet image of aserial number, a serial number data field, and a transaction identifier.According to some such embodiments, the transaction identifier can beassociated with the customer's financial institution account number toenable a post-processing lookup or query if necessary to perform acharge-back, which is described in detail below in the Modes ofOperation—Searching/Master Database Section, and in other sections ofthe present disclosure. According to some embodiments, the record 300 aincludes one or more of the above data fields, but does not include anyof the image sections 310, 320.

Turning now to FIG. 3B, an exemplary record 300 b for a check isillustrated according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.According to some embodiments, the record 300 b comprises several partsincluding, but not limited to, one or more image sections 340, 350 and aplurality of check identifying information data fields 360 a. While therecord 300 b is shown according to a non-limiting example, it iscontemplated that the record 300 b can include any number, size, shape,type, and orientation of image sections and/or data fields. In theillustrated check example, both sides of the check have been scanned andimaged. In other embodiments, it may be desirable to scan and/or imageonly one side of the check. Yet in other embodiments, it may be desiredto scan and produce a snippet image of, for example, a MICR section ofthe check, a courtesy amount section (CAR), a legal amount section(LAR), or a combination thereof. In the embodiment illustrated, thefirst image section 340 includes a visually readable image of a firstside of the check. Similarly, the second image section 350 includes avisually readable image of a reverse side of the check. The visuallyreadable images can be reproduced by a display device such as a computermonitor or by a printer device. In both the first and second imagesections 340, 350 there is identifying information that can be extractedfrom the visually readable images using OCR software and/or otherextraction software and tagged to one or more of the identifyinginformation data fields 360 b.

According to some embodiments, the check identifying information datafields 360 a can include: a drawer data field 341′, a MICR data field342′, a routing data filed 343′, an account number data field 344′, atransaction amount data field 345′, a payee data field 346′, and a checknumber data field 347′. To better understand these various data fields,reference is made to the first and the second image sections 340 and350. In the image sections 340 and 350, the visually readable image ofthe check reveals that the check includes a variety of identifyinginformation. For example, the check shown has drawer identificationinformation 341, MICR data 342, an ABA number 343 (that is a routing andtransit number), a bank account number 344, a check amount 345 (courtesyamount and/or legal amount), a MICR encoded check amount 345 a, a payeename 346, a check number 347, and an endorser signature 348 (backsurface of the check). The various check identifying information datafields include data such as, for example, alphanumeric data orcharacters extracted from the image data that is reproducible as thevisually readable images of the check in the image sections 340, 350.For example, the MICR data 342 is extracted using OCR software and/orother extraction software and tagged into the data portion 342′, such asdescribed in, for example, the Optical Character Recognition Section,and in other sections of the present disclosure. According to somealternative embodiments, the transaction amount 345 is extracted andprinted on the check as the MICR encoded check amount 345 a such that aMICR reader can obtain the check amount.

In addition to the image sections 340, 350 and the check identifyinginformation data fields 360 a, the record 300 b may also includetransaction information data fields 360 b, such as, for example,alphanumeric or biometric data associated with a person or a bankaccount associated with the processed documents. For example, the record300 b may also include a payee account number data field 361′ that isassociated with a financial institution account of a person or companyendorsing and/or depositing the check for a credit. The payee accountnumber 361′ can be the financial institution account number (e.g., bankaccount number) of a customer, such as a store, depositing the checkassociated with the record 300 b into its financial institution account.According to some embodiments, the deposit of the check is associatedwith a deposit transaction, where the deposit transaction involves thedepositing of a plurality of documents into the financial institutionaccount along with the check associated with the record 300 b. Accordingto some embodiments, the deposit transaction can be identified with adeposit transaction identifier 362′. According to some embodiments, thedeposit transaction identifier is a unique identifier. The deposittransaction identifier 362′ can be an alphanumeric string of characters(e.g., ABC0006) that identifies a deposit and/or financial transactionat least involving the check. According to some embodiments, the deposittransaction identifier 362′ identifies the customer (e.g., store ABC)and/or a number of the transaction between the customer and thefinancial institution (e.g., 6th transaction between the store ABC andthe financial institution). Thus, as compared to the deposit transactionidentifier 332′ associated with the record 300 a, the deposittransaction identifier 362′ indicates that the record 300 b isassociated with the 6th deposit transaction between Store ABC and thefinancial institution, which occurred after the deposit transactionassociated with the record 300 a. According to some embodiments, thetransaction information may be tagged to the record 300 b by thedocument processing device 101, 101′ or a processor, and/or a computer(e.g., the computer 151) coupled thereto. According to some embodiments,the transaction information in the transaction information data fields360 b can be obtained from an operator, a deposit slip (e.g., virtuallycreated deposit slip or MICR encoded deposit slip), a header/trailercard, a networked bank computer, and/or teller software.

It should be recognized that the data fields 360 a,b are not inclusiveof all possible data fields and types of information that can be taggedto the record 300 b. For example, in some cases, it may also be usefulto extract characters corresponding to the memo line of the check. Inaddition, it is contemplated that in some embodiments the operator mayfill in and/or correct one or more of the data fields. According to someembodiments, the record 300 b includes one or more of the above datafields, but does not include any of the image sections 340, 350.According to some embodiments, the record 300 b may also include anoperator field and/or a personnel field (not shown) as described abovein connection with record 300 a.

According to some embodiments, the record 300 b includes a flag codefield 363′, such as a suspect flag. The flag code field 363′ can be usedto visually and/or electronically flag the record 300 b as a suspect, ano-show, and/or unexpected. According to some embodiments, the flag codefield 363′ includes characters and/or symbols that can be the word“suspect” or any other term or phrase to indicate a condition or statusassociated with the record 300 b or otherwise indicate various flag codeinformation similar to the flag code field 333′ described above.

According to some embodiments, the flag code field 363′ can be used tovisually and/or electronically include a reason associated with why adocument was flagged. For example, for a check, the document processingdevice may identify the check as suspect based on any of a number ofattributes, such as, for example, a MICR line or a portion thereofextracted from the check matching a MICR line information or a portionthereof in a suspect or blacklist database, non-conforming magneticproperties, non-conforming infrared characteristics, non-conforming UVcharacteristics, non-conforming iridescence characteristics,non-conforming thread characteristics, non-conforming watermarkcharacteristics, non-conforming paper characteristics, and other typesof security characteristics known in the art. That is, according to someembodiments, an operator of a document processing device and/or systemreviewing and/or searching records, such as described below in the Modesof Operation—Searching/Master Database Section, and in other sections ofthe present disclosure, can determine the reason that a particularrecord was tagged as being associated with a suspect document by lookingup the reason contained in the flag code field 363′.

According to some embodiments, the data fields 330 a,b and 360 a,binclude characters such as alphanumeric data as opposed to images of thecorresponding data to facilitate processing of the imaged documentand/or forwarding of the record 300 a,b or portions thereof and/orsearching or querying of a database containing a plurality of records orportions thereof such as a database containing the data (non-image)portions of the records 300 a,b. Yet, according to other embodiments,the image fields can include snippet images of the corresponding dataand/or the alphanumeric data. In these embodiments, the snippet imagesallow an operator to check the accuracy of the OCR or other extractionsoftware at a later time.

Now turning to FIGS. 3C and 3D, exemplary records 300 c and 300 d for acurrency bill are illustrated according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. According to some embodiments, the records 300 c,deach comprise several parts including, but not limited to, one or moreimage sections 370, and a plurality of data fields 380. While therecords 300 c and 300 d are shown according to a non-limiting example,it is contemplated that the records 300 c and 300 d can include anynumber, size, shape, type, and orientation of image sections and/or datafields. For example, the image section 370 of the record 300 c includesa visually readable image of a currency bill serial number snippet. Foranother example, the image section 370 of the record 300 d includes avisually readable image of a currency bill serial number snippet and acurrency bill denomination or corner snippet. The currency billdenomination or corner snippet includes a visual representation of adenomination 372 associated with the record 300 d. The visually readablesnippet images can be reproduced by a display device such as a computermonitor or by a printer device. In the image section 370 there isidentifying information that can be extracted from the visually readableimages using OCR software and/or other extraction software and taggedinto one or more of the data fields 380. For example, the serial numbersnippet of the currency bill illustrated in the image section 370includes a serial number 371. This serial number 371 may be extractedusing OCR software and tagged to serial number data field 381 for useduring subsequent analysis and/or processing of the currency bill.

According to some embodiments, for an eleven character serial number,the OCR or other software accurately extracts ten or eleven of theeleven alphanumeric characters in the serial number. According to someembodiments, the OCR or other software accurately extracts ten of theten alphanumeric characters in the serial number 371. According to someembodiments, the OCR or other software accurately extracts nine of theten alphanumeric characters in the serial number 371, as shown in FIG.3C. Put another way, the document processing device 101, 101′ that runsthe OCR or other software cannot determine one or more of the characterswith a confidence equal to or greater than a predetermined confidencelevel. In the example shown in FIGS. 3C and 3D, the document processingdevice 101, 101′ was unable to determine the first character of theserial number 371. Thus, the initial serial number extraction 381 acontains a “?” as the first of the ten characters. According to someembodiments, the document processing system 100 is configured to providea means (e.g., keyboard, softkeys, mouse, touch screen, etc.) for anoperator to enter the missing character (e.g., “G”), which is describedbelow in the Modes of Operation—Ragging Section, and in other sectionsof the present disclosure. The corrected or manually completed serialnumber 381 b is shown below the initial serial number extraction 381 ain the serial number data field 381.

According to some embodiments, the data fields 380 may further include adenomination data field 383, a device ID data field 385, a batch numberdata field 387, a subbatch number data field 388, a batch start timedata field 389, a batch end time data field 390, a subbatch start timedata field 391, a subbatch end time data field 392, an operatoracceptance data field 394, a deposit transaction ID data field 395, anoperator field (not shown), a personnel field (not shown) or anycombination thereof. The serial number snippet image of the currencybill partially depicted in the image section 370 is associated with adenomination. As described above, the document processing system 100 ordevice 101, 101′ is configured to determine the denomination of thecurrency bill and tag the determined denomination to the record 300 c,din the denomination data field 383. As shown, the associateddenomination of the currency bill is a one dollar currency bill. Thedevice ID can be any name, reference, or serial number of the documentprocessing system 100 or device 110, 101′ being used to generate therecord 300 c. In the illustrated embodiment, the device ID is 12345,which is included in the device ID data field 385.

A batch number and subbatch number correspond to primary andsub-sessions of processing documents with the document processing system100 or device 101, 101′. In the illustrated embodiment, the record 300c,d was generated by the document processing system 100 or device 101,101′ during a third subbatch of a first primary session. For example, anoperator is processing seven hundred and fifty documents deposited by aStore in a Bank. The operator turns on the document processing system100 or device 101, 101′ that prepares to receive documents of a firstbatch. The operator inputs two hundred and fifty documents into theinput receptacle 110 of the document processing system 100. These twohundred and fifty documents comprise a first subbatch of the firstbatch. After the first subbatch is processed, the operator can removethe documents from the output receptacle 130 and insert an additionalthree hundred of the seven hundred and fifty documents as a secondsubbatch. Similarly, after the second subbatch is processed, theoperator can remove the documents from the output receptacle 130 andinsert the remaining two hundred documents as the third and finalsubbatch of the first batch of documents. Thus, each individual run orprocessing of batches or subbatches of documents can be identified usingby the batch data field 387 and/or by the subbatch data field 388.

According to some embodiments, the batch start time data field 389, thebatch end time data field 390, the subbatch start time data field 391,and the subbatch end time data field 392 can further be used to identifythe batch and subbatch of the document associated with the record 300c,d. As shown in the illustrated embodiment, the processing of the firstbatch started on 04/15/2009 at 10:30:05 AM and ended on 04/15/2009 at10:34:15 AM. Additionally, as shown in the subbatch start and end timedata fields 391 and 392, the processing of the third subbatch started on04/15/2009 at 10:33:20 AM and ended on 04/15/2009 at 10:34:15 AM.

According to some embodiments, as described above, the record 300 c,dcan also include the operator acceptance data field 394. The operatoracceptance data field 394 can be used to visually and/or electronicallyflag the record 300 c as being associated with a suspect document, ano-show document, an unexpected document, a manually corrected document,an automatically corrected document, and/or an accepted document.According to some embodiments, the operator acceptance data field 394includes information associated with one or more flag conditions or flagcriteria and a related outcome. The flag criteria can include, but arenot limited to, no-call denomination, extraction error-currency bill,extraction error-check or extraction error MICR line, suspect, fitness,soil, no-show, unexpected, serial number location, and billcharacteristic location. As shown in FIGS. 3C and 3D, the operatoracceptance data field 394 includes a flagged—corrected outcome 394 a.According to some embodiments, the flagged—corrected outcome 394 aindicates that the currency bill associated with the record 300 c,d wasflagged by the document processing system 100 or device 101, 101′ asmissing data. In some embodiments, the missing data can be a missingdenomination, a missing alphanumeric character from a currency billserial number or from a check MICR line. The missing data can be causedby a failure to completely OCR image data. Other flagged—outcomesinclude, but are not limited to, flagged—corrected denomination,flagged—corrected serial number, flagged—corrected MICR line,flagged—suspect, flagged—accepted, flagged—no-show, flagged—unexpected,and not flagged. The flag criteria and related outcomes are furtherdescribed below in the Modes of Operation—Flagging Section, and in othersections of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, the deposit transaction ID data field 395includes a transaction identifier 395 a. The transaction identifier 395a may be the same as, or similar to, the deposit transaction identifiers332′ and 362′ described above in reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B. Accordingto some embodiments, an operator of the document processing system 100can use the transaction identifier 395 a to identify a customerfinancial account number that the currency bill associated with therecord 300 c,d is to be or was deposited into for a credit. In the caseof the currency bill being a suspect, the operator can then initiate acharge-back if credit was already given for the deposit of the currencybill via the document processing system 100 and/or teller softwarecommunicatively connected with a banking system (e.g., the bankingsystem 460 for FIGS. 4A-B) that maintains the customer financialinstitution account.

Now turning to FIG. 3E, a data file 301 including transactioninformation 303 and a plurality of records 305 is shown according tosome embodiments. According to some embodiments, each of the pluralityof records 305 corresponds with one of a plurality of documentsassociated with a deposit transaction. According to some embodiments,the deposit transaction is between a customer (e.g., the Store) and afinancial institution (e.g., the Bank). According to some suchembodiments, the customer desires to deposit the plurality of documentsinto the financial institution for a credit to the customer's financialinstitution account, which is maintained at the financial institution.The document processing system 100 is configured to receive theplurality of documents associated with the deposit transaction and toprocess the plurality of documents, as described above in reference toFIGS. 1 and 2A-C, to generate the data file 301. According to someembodiments, as described in detail below in reference to FIGS. 4A-B,the data file 301 can be transmitted electronically over a network fromthe customer to the financial institution for a provisional and/or afinal credit to the customer's financial institution account for all ofor a portion of the plurality of documents. According to someembodiments, issuing a final credit makes the credit available forimmediate withdrawal by the customer.

According to some embodiments, the transaction information 303 caninclude a financial institution account number field 303 a, a declareddeposit amount or a total deposit amount field 303 b, a number ofdocuments field 303 c, a description of a type of financial transactionfield 303 d, a transaction identifier field 303 e, an operator field(not shown), a personnel field or a combination thereof. According tosome embodiments, an operator of the document processing system 100inputs some or all of the transaction information 303 into the documentprocessing system 100, which is configured to automatically populateand/or insert the inputted transaction information into the data file301. According to some embodiments, the transaction information 303forms a virtual deposit slip. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing system 100 can be configured to, and/orcommunicatively connected to a printer to, print the virtual depositslip for forwarding with the physical documents associated with thedeposit transaction to be deposited.

Alternatively or additionally, the transaction information 303 isdisplayed as a visually readable image of a preprinted deposit slipwithin the data file 301. In some such alternative embodiments, thecustomer can fill out the preprinted deposit slip with hand-written data(e.g., a total deposit amount, a total number of documents, etc.) andthe document processing system 100 can be configured to include avisually readable image of the preprinted deposit slip including thehand-written data in the data file 301. Additionally, in someembodiments, the document processing system 100 can be configured to useOCR and/or other software (e.g., CAR/LAR software) to extract thehand-written data on the preprinted deposit slip and populate and/orinsert the extracted data in one of the corresponding transactioninformation fields 303 of the virtual deposit slip.

The financial institution account number field 303 a includes afinancial account number (e.g., 1237300) of, for example, the customerconducting the deposit transaction with the financial institution (e.g.,the Bank) into which funds associated with the deposit transaction areto be deposited, e.g., the value of the plurality of documentsdeposited. According to some embodiments, the financial account numberindicates to the Bank which customer transmitted the data file 301 forthe credit. The total deposit amount and/or a value of the plurality ofdocuments is included in the total deposit amount field 303 b. The totaldeposit amount field 303 b includes a value, for example, $100.00, asshown, associated with a sum of values associated with each of thedocuments associated with the deposit transaction to be deposited. Thetotal number of documents field 303 c includes the number of documents,for example, 8, as shown, in the plurality of documents that isassociated with the deposit transaction to be deposited. The descriptionof a type of financial transaction field 303 d indicates that the datafile 301 is associated with a deposit transaction between, for example,the customer and the financial institution. The transaction identifierfield 303 e includes a transaction identifier, for example, ABC 0001, asshown, that can be used to uniquely identify the deposit transactioninvolving the data file 301. Put another way, the transaction identifiercan be used to reference the deposit of the plurality of documents intothe customer's financial account.

As discussed above, the data file 301 includes the plurality of records305, where each of the plurality of records 305 corresponds with one ofthe plurality of documents associated with the deposit transaction.According to some embodiments, the records 305 are organized into aplurality of data columns 306 a-e. For example, according to someembodiments, the data file 301 includes a document number or document IDcolumn 306 a, a full visually readable document image column 306 b, avisually readable snippet image column 306 c, an extracted data (e.g.,extracted serial number, extracted MICR line, or any other dataextracted from a currency bill or a check) column 306 d, a documentvalue column 306 e, or any combination thereof and each record includesa field corresponding to each column, such as, for example, a documentnumber or ID field, a full image field, etc. It is contemplated thataccording to some embodiments, the data file 301 can include more orless data columns. For example, according to some such embodiments, thedata file 301 can include a financial account number data column, adevice ID column, a batch number column, a subbatch number column, startand end batch and/or subbatch processing time column(s), an operatoracceptance column, or any combination thereof. According to someembodiments, some or all of the transaction information 303 may insteadbe included in corresponding columns and the data file 301 need notinclude a separate transactional section in the data file. Rather, therecords associated with a particular transaction can be identified fromthe information in the transactional columns or fields.

According to some alternative embodiments, the data file 301 is a tellerdrawer file. The teller drawer file includes a plurality of records,like records 305. Further details of the teller drawer file as discussedbelow in the Document Auditing and Tracking Section, and in othersections of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 3E, the document ID column 306 a includes a documentidentifier for each of the records 305. According to some embodiments,the document ID indicates an order that the plurality of documents wereprocessed in the document processing system 100. For example, as shown,the plurality of documents includes 8 currency bills (e.g., documents1-8) to be deposited into the financial institution. The first record305 a is associated with a first of the documents to be processed andthe eighth record 305 h is associated with a last of the documents to beprocessed that are associated with the deposit transaction identified bythe transaction ID ABC 0001.

According to some embodiments, the data file 301 includes the fullvisually readable document image column 306 b. The full visuallyreadable document image column 306 b can include a full visuallyreadable image of one or both sides of each respective document. Forexample, the third record 305 c includes a full visually readable imageof the third document associated with the deposit transaction.Alternatively or additionally, the data file 301 includes the visuallyreadable snippet image column 306 c. The visually readable snippet imagecolumn 306 c can include one or more visually readable snippet images ofeach respective document. For example, the fifth record 305 e includes avisually readable serial number snippet image of the fifth documentassociated with the deposit transaction. According to some embodiments,the visually readable snippet image column 306 c can include adenomination and/or corner snippet image in lieu of or in addition tothe serial number snippet images shown in FIG. 3E.

According to some embodiments, the data file 301 includes the extracteddata column 306 d. According to some embodiments, for currency bills,the extracted data column 306 d includes serial numbers extracted fromeach respective document. According to some embodiments, the serialnumber is extracted from a respective full visually readable imageand/or a respective serial number snippet image For checks, theextracted data column 306 d can include MICR characters extracted fromeither a full visually readable image and/or a MICR snippet image (notshown).

According to some embodiments, the data file 301 includes the documentvalue column 306 e. The document value column 306 e includes adenomination and/or value for each of the records 305 associated withrespective ones of the documents to be deposited. For example, thefirst, second, and third records 305 a-c are associated with twentydollar currency bills to be deposited. Thus, the document value column306 e includes a value of “20” for the records 305 a-c. Similarly, thefourth, fifth, and sixth records 305 d-f are associated with ten dollarcurrency bills to be deposited. Thus, the document value column 306 eincludes a value of “10” for the records 305 d-f. Similarly, the seventhand eighth records 305 g-h are associated with five dollar currencybills to be deposited. Thus, the document value column 306 e includes avalue of “5” for the records 305 g-h.

Deposit Transaction

Currently, banks and stores (e.g., retail store) lack real-timevisibility of on hand currency, which limits the efficient use of the onhand currency. For example, a typical retail store does not currentlyhave visibility or current data relative to checks, currency, and/orother mediums of payment about to be deposited at its bank. The largerthe retail store, the greater the amount of currency in process and intransit between the store and the bank of deposit. It is contemplatedthat knowledge of on hand currency and knowledge of currency and checksin transit to the bank enables a store to better forecast currencyrequirements for the store's clerk drawers for the following day ofbusiness.

Similarly, banks currently lack real-time visibility relative toincoming deposits for the bank's various commercial customers until thedeposits arrive at the bank or at one of the bank's vaults forprocessing. It is contemplated that visibility of deposits at the timethe deposits are being created at the store and prior to transport tothe bank and/or bank vault can enable a bank to better anticipate andplan for expected currency receipts in a given day. With suchinformation banks would be better equipped to manage the bank's overallcurrency inventory, accelerate accounting of currency balances, and inturn reduce the amount of currency inventory on hand required toeffectively service the bank's commercial customers.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices andsystems of the present disclosure can be implemented to enable stores tobetter manage their respective currency balances and increase velocityor turn over of cash flow. Similarly, according to some embodiments, thedocument processing devices and systems of the present disclosure can beimplemented to enable banks to provide their commercial customers creditfor deposits even before the deposits physically reach the bank or thebank's vault. Such apparatuses, systems, and methods are describedherein.

According to some embodiments, a bank customer (e.g., a grocery store, ahardware store, a clothing store, etc.) receives documents including,currency bills and checks, throughout a workday from patrons purchasingproducts and/or services. These currency bills and checks aretemporarily stored in a plurality of cash registers or cash tills. Atthe end of the workday, or at one or more periods throughout the day(e.g., shift changes), the plurality of currency bills and checks in thecash tills is removed for processing in one or more document processingdevices. Alternatively, only an excess portion of the currency bills inthe cash tills is removed with the checks.

According to some embodiments, a store employee (e.g., a clerk ormanager of the bank customer) inserts one or more stacks or batches ofcurrency bills and checks into an input receptacle of a documentprocessing system, such as, for example, the document processing system100. The document processing system at least includes a documentprocessing device, such as, for example, the document processing device101. In some embodiments, the document processing system also includes acomputer communicatively connected to the document processing device.Yet, in other embodiments, the document processing system includes adocument processing device with a built-in processor or controller withenough computing power to perform a plurality of document processingoperations on-board. The document processing system transports thecurrency bills and checks one at a time along a transport path such thateach of the currency bills and checks is scanned and imaged by one ormore image scanners to generate image data and/or records associatedwith the currency bills and checks. According to some embodiments, therecords each include image data that can be reproduced as a visuallyreadable image of one of the currency bills or checks. A record caninclude a visually readable image of one or more sides of a document, aportion of the document, a snippet image of the document, or acombination thereof. According to some embodiments, the records includeextracted identifying information, which corresponds to the visuallyreadable image(s) included in the respective record. For example, acurrency bill serial number or a checking account number can beextracted from image data and included in a data field of a respectiverecord. According to some embodiments, each record includes a storeemployee identifier associated with the store employee that received therespective document throughout the store employee's shift. According tosome embodiments, the generated records include all of or a portion ofthe information/data and/or images in the records 300 a-d described inthe Document Records and Data Files Section and in connection with FIGS.3A-3D, and in other sections of the present disclosure.

According to other embodiments, the store employee inserts a pluralityof currency bills and a plurality of checks into the input receptacle.According to some such embodiments, the plurality of currency bills is afirst group of documents processed separately from the plurality ofchecks, which is a second group of documents. The two groups ofdocuments can be related via a transaction identifier, a customeridentifier, and/or a batch identifier. According to some embodiments,processing the currency bills separately from the checks as differentgroups increases overall processing efficiencies and decreases theoverall document processing time. According to some embodiments, thestore employee inserts a plurality of currency bills and a plurality ofchecks into the input receptacle as a sorted batch of documents to beprocessed according to an order-batch mode of operation as definedherein in the Definitions Section.

According to some embodiments, one or more store employees can reviewand/or analyze the records to obtain real time information associatedwith the currency bills and/or checks to be deposited into the store'sbank that day. According to some embodiments, the document processingsystem is configured to generate one or more reports includinginformation associated with the processed documents to be deposited,such as, for example, check totals and currency bill totals, which cangive one or more store employees overall visibility of the size of thestore's deposit at the bank. The generated report can be printed on acommunicatively connected printing device and/or displayed on one ormore communicatively connected displays, such as, for example, controlpanel 170.

According to some embodiments, after the groups of currency bills andchecks are processed by the document processing system, a data fileincluding the records associated with those documents are transmittedover a network to a bank for a provisional deposit credit. It iscontemplated that according to some embodiments, the store may decide tosend a data file to its bank several times a day (e.g., at the end ofeach shift) in order to obtain credit at an earlier time for excess cashon hand. The bank receives the data file and records over the network ina financial institution system which includes a bank document processingsystem (e.g., one or more bank computers and one or more bank documentprocessing devices) and an accounting and/or banking system. Accordingto some embodiments, based on the electronic data file and recordsalone, the financial institution system is configured to automaticallyissue a credit (e.g., provisional credit and/or final credit) to thestore's bank account. According to some such embodiments, the creditingof a customer account based on a data file including records associatedwith documents to be physically delivered to a bank at a later timegives the bank the benefit of having cash on hand and on the bank'sbooks before the cash is physically delivered to the bank or the bank'svault.

According to some embodiments, in response to receiving a data fileincluding records associated with checks, the bank starts to proof thechecks based on the records alone. It is contemplated that such advancedproofing can enable the store to obtain deposit credit for the checksearlier in the day and before certain cut off time deadlines set by thebank. Similarly, the bank obtains the value of these deposits via thechecks earlier in the day and may capture significant value and depositsprior to the day's cut off. In the past, such checks would be receivedafter the cut off time for a given date and therefore, the bank wouldnot have received the benefit of recording the checks on its books untilthe following day.

Typically, banks have a deadline for receiving deposits to be creditedon that business day. For example, some banks require all deposits to bereceived prior to 3 PM in order for the customer to receive a same daycredit. According to some embodiments, banks may give a customer anextended period of time to deliver physical documents associated with abatch of documents being deposited at the bank if the customerpreviously transmitted a data file as described herein. For example, abank might give a customer until 5 PM or even later to transport aphysical batch of documents to the bank in order to receive a same daycredit.

According to some embodiments, the bank receives the data file andrecords over the network in one or more memory/storage devices of one ofthe bank computers (e.g., an item processing system) and based on therecords alone, the bank computer automatically transmits a creditinstruction to an accounting system. In these embodiments, in responseto receiving the credit instruction, the accounting system can beconfigured to automatically issue a provisional credit. It iscontemplated that, according to some embodiments, such a deposit system,such as described above and below in reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B, canreduce the time involved to obtain deposit credit from anywhere of aminimum of six hours to as much as a 12 to 24 hour improvement.

According to some embodiments, a store is communicatively connected toits bank such as described below and in connection with FIGS. 4A and 4B.According to some such embodiments, a store employee via one or morestore computers communicatively connected with one or more bankcomputers can monitor which ones of the store's deposit transactionshave cleared the bank and been accepted. The bank acceptance can beeither through the physical processing of the currency and checks oncereceived at the bank (FIG. 4B) or the bank accepting electronicallytransmitted data files including records associated with currency billsand checks for deposit credit even before the physical documents arriveat the bank (FIG. 4A).

In response to the records being transmitted over the network, a storeemployee can gather all of the processed physical currency bills andphysical checks as a batch of documents for pickup by an armored carrieror for drop-off at the bank. Alternatively, only the processed physicalcurrency bills, and not any of the physical checks are physicallytransported to the bank such that the bank can verify received recordsagainst corresponding received physical documents.

According to some embodiments, in response to receiving the physicalbatch of documents, a bank employee or teller inserts the batch ofreceived documents into an input receptacle of a bank documentprocessing system located at the bank. The bank document processingsystem can include one or more input receptacles and/or one or moreoutput receptacles. The bank document processing system scans and imagesthe documents in the same, or similar, manner as the document processingsystem located at the store to produce bank records. The bank documentprocessing system compares the bank records with the records transmittedby the store to determine if any expected documents are missing (e.g.,no-show documents). If the bank document processing system determinesthat one or more documents are missing, then the bank documentprocessing system can instruct the accounting system to automaticallycharge-back the store's bank account for an amount equal to a value ofthe missing document(s).

It is contemplated that, according to some embodiments, the bankdocument processing system is a single output receptacle device (e.g.,document processing device 101′) used to rerun the batch of documents toverify the store's deposit. In response to the batch of documents beingverified, the batch of documents can be put into a tray of documentsincluding a multitude of batches of documents to be sorted using anon-imaging MPS or an imaging MPS.

Alternatively, the bank document processing device can be an imaging MPSconfigured to verify the batch of documents and to sort the batch ofdocuments by denominations and/or type of document (e.g., bills sortedfrom checks). According to some such embodiments, the batch of documentsis immediately placed in a tray for processing in the imaging MPSwithout first being rerun on the single output receptacle device. It iscontemplated that such an alternative method can reduce processing ofcommercial deposits.

According to some embodiments, the batch of documents is placed into atray of documents associated with the same bank customer—that is, eachtray only includes documents associated with a single bank customer forprocessing in the imaging MPS. It is contemplated that grouping all of acustomer's deposits into one or more associated trays can increaseoverall document processing efficiency in the bank. For example, a storeincludes 35 locations in a city. All 35 locations prepare and transporta respective batch of documents to a bank for deposit into the samecustomer account. The 35 batches of documents are placed into, forexample, 5 bulk currency trays for processing. The 5 trays of documents(including the 35 batches of documents only) are then processed in animaging MPS as described above. In response to the imaging MPSdetermining any variances (e.g., no-show documents, unexpecteddocuments, suspect documents), the imaging MPS can be configured toautomatically attribute the variance(s) to the store's customer account,as all documents in the 5 trays are associated with the store. Thus,processing all of the 35 batches of documents as described permits thebank to bypass individually processing each of the 35 batches ofdocuments on a first pass on a single output receptacle device and thensending the 35 batches of documents via bulk currency trays on a secondpass through an MPS or imaging MPS.

According to some embodiments, the bank document processing system canalso be configured to authenticate the currency bills, the checks, or acombination of intermingled currency bills and checks. According to someembodiments, the bank document processing system can also automaticallycharge-back the store's bank account or generate a charge-backinstruction for any currency bills determined to be suspect currencybills and any checks determined to be associated with/or suspected ofbeing associated with fraudulent activity.

According to some embodiments, a bank receives records associated withphysical documents from a store over a network in a bank documentprocessing system. Prior to receiving the physical documents at thebank, the bank document processing system automatically compares thereceived records associated with the physical documents with data in asuspect database to determine if any of the records are associated witha suspect document. The comparison determines if any of the physicaldocuments to be deposited are suspect or associated with fraudulentactivity. If the bank document processing system determines that one ormore of the records are associated with suspect documents, a notice isautomatically transmitted from the bank document processing system overthe network to one of the customer's computers. The notice indicatesthat the bank via the bank document processing system determined thatone or more of the records is associated with a suspect and/orfraudulent document. In these embodiments, after detecting a suspectand/or fraudulent document to be deposited, the provisional creditapplied to the store's bank account may be reduced accordingly by thebank document processing system in communication with the accountingsystem.

According to some embodiments, a bank contracts with one or more thirdparties to receive and process documents, such as, for example, currencybills, checks, or both. The third party can be an armored carrier thatgenerally performs all operations of a bank vault on behalf of the bank.That is, according to some embodiments, a third party such as an armoredcarrier counts, discriminates, and totals all currency bill depositsand/or proofs, clears, and totals all check deposits. All of thecalculated totals can be transmitted to the bank at one or more timesthroughout the day such that the bank can maintain visibility of itsincoming currency bills and/or overall deposits. Based on the calculatedtotals and/or other deposit related information generated by the thirdparty and transmitted or otherwise made available to the bank, the bankcan update financial records in the bank's accounting system, such asthe accounting system described in the Document Processing DeviceOperations in a Financial Institution System Section and in connectionwith FIGS. 14-17, and in other sections of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, under the third party agreements, thethird party (e.g., armored carrier) maintains physical custody of thecurrency bills and sometimes checks such that the physical documents arenever transported to the bank's own vault. According to someembodiments, the third party keeps track of all currency that belongs tothe bank, arranges for the sale of excess currency from the thirdparty's vault to the United States Federal Reserve, arranges fordelivery of currency to one or more of the bank's branches, and arrangesfor delivery of currency and/or coin to customers of the bank.

According to some embodiments, the third party is the same as, orsimilar to, the financial institution system 103 described in connectionwith FIGS. 4A and 4B. Thus, the third party can include one or moredocument processing devices and/or systems, such as, for example, one ormore devices 101, 101′, one or more imaging MPS(s) and/or non-imagingMPS(s). According to some embodiments, the devices and/or systems of thethird party is/are configured to electronically communicate with one ormore bank accounting systems in order to update financial records foreach customer or account in a similar manner as described herein inconnection with FIGS. 4A and 4B.

According to some embodiments, a store can transmit records and/or datafiles directly to a bank for processing as described in reference toFIGS. 4A and 4B. According to some embodiments, the store transmits therecords and/or data files to the bank and/or to a third party, such asan armored carrier, for processing. Alternately, according to someembodiments, the store only transmits records and/or data files directlyto the third party for processing. As such, the third party acts as anagent of the bank and receives and processes all records and/or datafiles associated with deposit transactions. According to someembodiments, the one or more devices and/or systems of the third partycan be configured to forward or otherwise make available the recordsand/or data files to the bank according to rules and/or guidelinesdeveloped between the bank and the third party. According to someembodiments, the one or more devices and/or systems of the third partyare configured to communicate with one or more devices and/or systems ofthe bank regarding no-show documents, unexpected documents, and/orsuspect documents.

Now turning to FIGS. 4A and 4B, a block diagram of a financialtransaction system 50 is described according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate non-limiting examplessuitable for describing an electronic portion and a physical portion ofa deposit transaction between a customer, such as a Store, and afinancial institution, such as a Bank, according to some embodiments ofthe present disclosure. As discussed above, according to someembodiments, the Store can be a person, a casino, a department store,etc. Similarly, the Bank can be any financial institution including, butnot limited to, a bank, an internet bank, an armored carrier, etc. Thus,the following use of the terms “Store” and “Bank” in this descriptionshould not be limited to the literal definition of such words, but aremerely non-limiting examples for ease of description.

The financial transaction system 50 includes a customer documentprocessing system 102 and a financial institution system 103. A network420 communicatively connects the customer document processing system 102and the financial institution system 103. The customer documentprocessing system 102 includes a customer document processing device 101a. Although the customer document processing device 101 a may provideprocessing capability, the customer document processing system 102 insome embodiments may also include a customer computer 450 acommunicatively connected to the customer document processing device 101a via a wired (e.g., electrical, optic) or wireless connection.According to some embodiments, the customer document processing device101 a and the customer computer 450 a may share a single housing (e.g.,the housing 190 of the document processing device 101′) or may beseparately housed. Although FIG. 4A may illustrate a single customercomputer 450 a connected to a single customer document processing device101 a, it is understood that one or more customer computers 450 a may beconnected to one or more customer document processing devices 101 a inany number of combinations. In general, processing may be distributedbetween any or all of the customer document processing devices 101 a andthe customer computers 450 a in the customer document processing system102. In some embodiments, aspects of the customer document processingsystem 102 may be the same as, or similar to, the document processingsystem 100 described above.

The financial institution system 103 includes a second documentprocessing device 101 b or a financial institution or bank documentprocessing device 101 b and a banking system 460. Although the financialinstitution document processing device 101 b may provide processingcapability, the financial institution system 103 may include a secondcomputer or a financial institution/bank computer 450 b communicativelyconnected to the financial institution document processing device 101 bvia a wired (e.g., electrical, optic) or wireless connection. Thefinancial institution document processing device 101 b and the bankcomputer 450 b may share a single housing or may be separately housed.Although FIG. 4A may illustrate a single financial institution computer450 b connected to a single financial institution document processingdevice 101 b, it is understood that one or more bank computers 450 b maybe connected to one or more financial institution document processingdevices 101 b in any number of combinations. In some embodiments,aspects of the financial institution document processing device 101 bmay be the same as, or similar to, the document processing device 101,101′ described above. According to some embodiments, the financialinstitution system 103 also includes a multiple pocket documentprocessing device 400 in addition to the second document processingdevice 101 b.

According to some embodiments, the customer document processing device101 a and/or the financial institution document processing device 101 bis a document processing vault system, such as document processing vaultsystem 1801, 1821, described in the Document Processing Vault SystemSection in connection with FIGS. 18A-18C, and in other sections of thepresent disclosure. According to some embodiments, the customer documentprocessing device 101 a and/or the financial institution documentprocessing device 101 b is a document processing recycler system, suchas document processing recycler system 1901, described in the DocumentProcessing Recycler System Section in connection with FIG. 19A, and inother sections of the present disclosure.

Electronic Portion of Deposit Transaction

According to some embodiments, a store operator, such as, a storeemployee or manager, initiates an electronic portion of a deposittransaction in the Store by gathering a plurality of documents 435 to bedeposited in the Bank for a credit to the Store's financial institutionaccount. As similarly described in relation to the document processingdevice 101 of FIG. 1, the document processing device 101 a is configuredto receive the plurality of documents 435 as one or more batches and/orsubbatches of documents in an input receptacle. The plurality ofdocuments 435 are then processed by the customer document processingsystem 102 to generate an electronic data file or data file 436 (e.g.,data file 301) that provides information on the one or more batchesand/or subbatches processed by the customer document processing device101 a. The document processing device 101 a and/or the customer computer450 a may generate the data file 436. In general, the data file 436provides deposit or transaction information (e.g., transactioninformation 303) relating to the Store's deposit with the Bank. Forexample, the transaction information may include a customer financialaccount number, a declared deposit amount or a total deposit amount, atotal number of documents to be deposited, a total currency bill depositamount, a number of deposited currency bills broken down bydenomination, a total check deposit amount, a number of deposited checksbroken down by on-us checks and transit checks, a total on-us checkdeposit amount, a total transit check deposit amount, a description of atype of financial transaction, or any combination thereof.

The data file 436 may have any format that is readable by the financialinstitution system 103. For example, the data file 436 may be a plaintext file, a binary file, or a mixed text and binary file. Additionally,the data file 436 may be encrypted or otherwise encoded to be readableonly by the financial institution system 103, especially to ensure thesecurity of the data in the data file 436.

The data file 436 may present the data as one or more store records(e.g., records 300 a-d, 305 a-h), which are associated with thedocuments 435 to be deposited. In some embodiments, one store recordcorresponds directly to one document 435, but in other embodiments, onestore record may correspond to a plurality of documents 435, which havebeen consolidated. For example, the data file 436 may be organized, inthe same, or similar, manner as described above in reference to the datafile 301 shown in FIG. 3E. In another example, the data file 436 mayinclude delimited or fixed length fields which correspond to thecategories of transaction information associated with each store record.In a further example, the data file 436 may be specially encoded as adatabase table that is compatible with database software employed by thefinancial institution system 103.

According to some embodiments, each of the store records includes dataconfigured to visually represent one or both sides of a document in theplurality of documents 435 and/or one or more snippet images from one orboth sides of a document. Put another way, each of the store records inthe data file 436 includes a visually readable or human readable imageof a document, such as, for example, a currency bill, a check, or insome embodiments a deposit slip. According to some embodiments, thestore records solely contain the visually readable image of one or bothsides of a document. According to other embodiments, the store recordsinclude a visually readable image of both sides of a document,identifying information (e.g., currency bill serial number,denomination, checking account number, check amount, routing number,etc.) and transactional information (e.g., bank account number,depositor ID and/or depositor contact information, etc.). According toother embodiments, the store records only include identifyinginformation and transaction information without any images.

In addition to providing store records corresponding to the documents435, the data file 436 may also include other data, such as header data,that applies to the more than one store record. For example, header datamay include the date and time stamp for the transaction, Store'sfinancial institution account number, and the like. In general, byproviding the transaction information as described previously, thegenerated data file 436 may act as a virtual deposit slip. Additionallyor alternatively, a visually readable image of a preprinted deposit slipmay be provided by the data file 436. Thus, according to someembodiments, the transaction information included in the data file 436may be contained within and/or formatted as a virtual deposit slipand/or a visually readable image of a preprinted deposit slip associatedwith the deposit transaction between the Store and the Bank.

According to some embodiments, the store operator can input all of, or aportion of, the transaction information and/or data included in the datafile 436 into the customer document processing system 102. To facilitatethe entry of data for the data file 436, the customer documentprocessing system 102 may provide graphical user interface (GUI) utility(e.g., the control panel 170) via the document processing device 101 aand/or the computer 450 a.

Alternatively or additionally, according to some embodiments, thedocument processing system 102 is configured to automatically populateall of, or a portion of, the transaction information and/or dataincluded in the data file 436. For example, the customer documentprocessing system 102 can be preprogrammed with the Store's financialinstitution account number and/or the description of the type offinancial transaction (and/or a document processing system ID and/ordocument processing device ID) such that the financial institutionaccount number and the description of the type of financial transaction(and/or the document processing system ID and/or document processingdevice ID) are automatically included in any data file generated by thedocument processing system 102. For another example, the customerdocument processing system 102 can be configured to count and denominatethe plurality of documents such that the declared deposit amount, thetotal number of documents to be deposited, the total currency billdeposit amount, the number of deposited currency bills broken down bydenomination, the total check deposit amount, the number of depositedchecks broken down by on-us checks and transit checks, the total on-uscheck deposit amount, and the total transit check deposit amount areautomatically included in any data file generated by the customerdocument processing system 102. Alternatively or additionally, accordingto some embodiments, the customer document processing system 102 can beconfigured to display one or more drop down menus and/or other dataentry GUI utility to facilitate the completion of transactioninformation and/or data included in the data file.

According to some embodiments, the customer document processing system102 is configured to save the store data file 436 in a storage medium ormemory device (e.g., a memory of the first computer 450 a and/or amemory of the first document processing device 101 a) such that a storepersonnel such as a store operator can view and/or print the storerecord associated with each of the processed documents 435 to bedeposited.

According to some embodiments, the data file is stored in a database andat least includes serial numbers of bills associated with a storecustomer transaction, a transaction date and/or time, and images orpartial images (snippet images) of each document associated with thestore customer transaction. According to some such embodiments, thecustomer document processing system 102 is configured to transmit and/orotherwise make available the database and/or data contained within thedatabase to the store's customer associated with the store customertransaction. For example, a store customer purchases a television fromthe store and gives the store $1000 in U.S. currency bills for thetelevision. The customer document processing system 102 is configured toprocess the $1000 transaction, generate a database including a recordfor each bill in the $1000 transaction, and to transmit or send thedatabase and/or data contained within the database to the store customersuch that the store customer has a complete electronic record of eachbill used to purchase the television from the store. It is contemplatedthat according to some embodiments, data contained within the databasecan be printed and physically given to the store customer by theoperator of the customer document processing system 102. According tosuch embodiments, if one of the bills turns out to be a counterfeit, thestore and the store's customer has a record of the transaction and canidentify the bills by serial number such that the store can chargebackthe store customer if so desired.

As described previously, processing may be distributed between thecustomer document processing device 101 a and the customer computer 450a in the customer document processing system 102. In some embodiments,the customer document processing device 101 a may write raw data to adata file 436 and transmit the data file 436 to the customer computer450 a, which may further process and/or sort the store records. Forexample, the customer computer 450 a can be configured to calculate atotal deposit value equal to the value of a sum total of values of thedocuments 435 associated with the deposit transaction.

According to some embodiments, in response to generating the data file436, the store operator may use a control panel (e.g., the control panel170) or other software operations of the customer document processingsystem 102 to electrically transmit the generated store data file 436over the network 420 to the financial institution system 103.Alternatively, the customer document processing system 102 automaticallytransmits the data file 436 over the network 420 to the financialinstitution system 103 as an electronic transmission without furtherinput from the store operator. In general, the data file 436 may beelectrically transmitted from the customer document processing device101 a, the customer computer 450 a, and/or another device or computerwithin the customer document processing system 102 to the financialinstitution system 102.

Although the customer document processing system 102 may initiate apush-based file transfer, the financial institution system 103 mayalternatively initiate a pull-based file transfer. For example, thecustomer document processing system 102 may make the data file 436available at a specific location within the customer document processingsystem 102, e.g., the storage medium of the customer computer 450 a. Thefinancial institution system 103 may then be responsible for initiatinga download of the data file 436 from the customer document processingsystem 102.

In some embodiments, the data file 436 may be transmitted, for example,via any file transfer protocol, to a specific location on a file systemon the network of the financial institution system 103, thus, providingany subsystems of the financial institution system 103 with access tothe data file 436, for example, via the local area network (LAN). Inother embodiments, the data file 436 may be transmitted to a storagemedium on the financial institution computer 450 b which is connected tothe network 420. After the financial institution system 103 receives thedata file 436, the financial institution document processing device 101b, the financial institution computer 450 b, the banking system 460,and/or one or more other aspects of the financial institution system 103may access the data file 436.

The handling of the data file 436 by both the customer documentprocessing system 102 and the financial institution system 103 mayinclude aspects of a deposit processing system, such as a depositaggregator system. In general, a deposit aggregator system may receiveand/or send data files associated with one or more deposit transactionsbetween one or more customers and one or more financial institutions.According to some embodiments, the customer document processing system102 is configured to transmit or upload the store data file 436 to thedeposit aggregator via the network 420. The deposit aggregator thenreceives and sends the data file to one or more financial institutions.For example, the deposit aggregator system can be configured to receivedthe store data file 436 associated with the deposit transaction betweenthe Store and the Bank. According to some embodiments, the store datafile 436 is stored on one or more storage devices of the depositaggregator system until the Bank downloads the store data file 436 in apull-based transfer. Thus, the customer document processing system 102uploads the store data file 436 onto the deposit aggregator system andthe Bank downloads the store data file 436 from the deposit aggregatorsystem. Alternatively or additionally, the deposit aggregator system mayautomatically upload or pull one or more store data files from thecustomer document processing system 102 and/or automatically transmit orpush the one or more uploaded store data files to one or more financialinstitutions associated with the respective data files.

According to some embodiments, the deposit aggregator system can read atleast a portion of the store data files (e.g., transaction identifier,customer account number, etc.) to determine a proper destination foreach data file 436. According to some embodiments, the depositaggregator system may automatically upload (pull) and/or transmit (push)the data files at one or more predetermined times (e.g., at 3 PMeveryday or every business day, at 3 AM on predetermined days, etc.).According to other embodiments, the customer document processing system102 and/or the financial institution system 103 automatically upload(push) and/or download (pull) data files at one or more predeterminedtimes (e.g., at 3 PM everyday or every business day; pull at 3:15 PMeveryday and push at 9:30 AM everyday, etc.).

In other embodiments, the deposit aggregator may read the records in thedata files 436 to determine the types of deposits, for example, cashdeposits, on-us checks, transit checks, etc., in the records. As such,the deposit aggregator may organize the records in the data file 436according to deposit type and route the records according to deposittype. In other words, the deposit aggregator may create new one or morenew data files, each of which contains records of a particular deposittype from the original data file 436. For example, the depositaggregator may determine that the data file 436 includes records forcash deposits and transit checks and may process each set of recordsaccording to a different procedure. On the one hand, the depositaggregator may send the cash deposit records in a new data file to thecustomer's financial institution to credit the customer's account. Onthe other hand, the deposit aggregator may send the transit checkrecords to the one or more financial institutions corresponding to thedrawee of each check. As there may be more than one financialinstitution corresponding to the transit checks, the deposit aggregatormay create one or more data files for each institution and divide thetransit check records appropriately among these data files. Each ofthese data files indicates the customer's financial institution forappropriate crediting. Advantageously, processing of the checks at thedrawees' financial institution and appropriate crediting of thecustomer's account at the customer's financial institution can occurmore quickly. Moreover, this approach reduces the administrative burdenassociated with the processing of transit checks by the customer'sfinancial institution.

According to some embodiments, an item processing system that resideswithin and/or is an integral component of the banking system receivesthe store data file 436 for processing. Such processing may be conductedin real-time, near real-time, or in batch at scheduled times of the day.According to some embodiments, the item processing system analyzesand/or reviews the data and information (e.g., store records, virtualdeposit slip, etc.) included in the store data file 436 and compares thevalues associated with each of the store records in the data file 436with the various declared totals (e.g., total declared deposit, totaldeclared currency bill deposit, total declared check deposit, etc.) tobalance the deposit transaction. In the case of a discrepancy, the itemprocessing system can be configured to modify the data file 436, one ormore of the store records in the store data file 436, and/or the virtualdeposit slip. Alternatively or additionally, in the case of adiscrepancy, the item processing system can be configured to create acredit/debit memo and/or an offsetting record or an offsetting data fileassociated with the deposit transaction such that the store data file436 and the offsetting data file balance. That is, the store data file436 plus the offsetting data file balance the deposit transaction.According to some embodiments, a discrepancy between the values of thestore records and the declared totals of the deposit slip can occur dueto an error in generating the virtual deposit slip. For example, theoperator of the customer document processing system 102 can erroneouslyinput incorrect data via, for example, the control panel, the firstcomputer 450 a, and/or one of the dropdown windows. For another example,in the case of a preprinted deposit slip being imaged and included inthe data file, the operator can erroneously record or write data on thepreprinted deposit slip and/or the customer document processing system102 can erroneously extract the data via OCR and/or CAR/LAR software.

According to some embodiments, the store data file 436 includes aplurality of records associated with currency bills and a plurality ofrecords associated with checks. According to some such embodiments, theitem processing system is configured to process and/or proof the storerecords included in the data file 436 associated with checks based onthe data (e.g., the visually readable image of one or both sides of therespective check) included in the respective store record. That is,according to some embodiments, the item processing system can fullyprocess the store records associated with checks without furtherprocessing and/or examination of the corresponding physical check.According to some embodiments, the item processing system includes aproof of deposit system (POD), which is described in greater detailbelow in the Document Processing Device Operations in a FinancialInstitution System Section, and in other sections of the presentdisclosure.

According to some embodiments, the item processing system is configuredto transmit a credit instruction to cause the banking system to creditthe financial institution account of the customer in response toreceiving the store data file 436. According to some embodiments, theitem processing system is configured to transmit a credit instruction tocause the banking system to credit the financial institution account ofthe customer in response to a determination that the store recordsincluded in the store data file 436 balance with the declared totals ofthe virtual deposit slip. According to some such embodiments, the creditcan be a provisional credit (e.g., funds available subject to reviewand/or additional processing or funds temporarily available) or a finalcredit (e.g., funds are immediately available for withdrawal). Thecredit can be for an amount based on the total declared deposit amount,the total declared currency bill deposit amount, the total declaredcheck deposit amount, the total declared on-us check deposit amount,and/or the total declared transit check deposit amount. For example, thecredit can be a percentage of the total declared deposit amount.According to some embodiments, the credit can be a provisional creditfor an amount based on the total declared currency bill deposit amountand a final credit for an amount based on the total declared checkdeposit amount. According to some embodiments, the credit can be aprovisional credit for an amount equal to the total declared currencybill deposit amount and a final credit for an amount equal to the totaldeclared check deposit amount.

The banking system 460 can be any financial institution computer,system, network, and/or any combination thereof. According to someembodiments, the banking system 460 includes a plurality ofcommunicatively connected computers, servers, storage devices, and/orprocessors configured to at least run teller software. According to someembodiments, the teller software can be operated automatically viasoftware instructions. Alternatively, the teller software is operatedvia software instructions and/or operator control. In these embodiments,the financial institution operator, such as a bank teller, can manuallymanipulate the teller software using one or more computers to perform avariety of financial institution operations, such as, for example,debiting/crediting financial institution accounts, creating offsettingrecords and/or offsetting data files, etc.

According to some embodiments, the banking system 460 includes adatabase 470. According to some embodiments, the database 470 includes aplurality of individual databases that are stored on one or more memorydevices. For example, according to some embodiments, the database 470can include a separate customer information database, a depositdatabase, a loan account database, and a transaction history database.The customer information database can include information about theBank's customers, such as, for example, names, addresses, phone numbers,etc. The deposit database can include customer financial account numbers(e.g., the Store's bank account) for all of the Bank's customers and thebalances of each account. Alternatively, the database 470 is a singledatabase that includes all customer information, deposit information,transaction history, etc. The database 470 can be located within thebanking system 460, within the financial institution system 103, orexternal to one or both. According to some embodiments, the database 470is stored on a plurality of different memory devices, which can bephysically located in a plurality of different locations (e.g.,different computers with the same or different financial institutions).According to some embodiments, the database 470 has one or more memoryback-ups located in a plurality of locations (e.g., online serverback-up).

According to some embodiments, the financial institution system 103 isconfigured to provisionally credit the Store's bank account in responseto receiving the store data file 436 associated with the deposittransaction. According to some embodiments, in response to the financialinstitution 103 receiving the store data file 436 over the network 420,the financial institution 103 automatically issues an immediateprovisional credit to the Store's bank account, which is stored withinthe database 470 in the banking system 460. In some of theseembodiments, the financial institution 103 issues a provisional creditin an amount equal to the total deposit value calculated by the firstcomputer 450 a. In other embodiments, the financial institution 103issues a provisional credit in an amount equal to a total deposit valuecalculated by the second computer 450 b or other financial institutioncomputer. Yet in other embodiments, the financial institution 103 issuesa provisional credit in an amount equal to a predetermined percentage ofa total deposit value. The predetermined percentage can be determined bythe financial institution 103 based on previous dealings with the Store,based on the amount of the total deposit value, and/or various otherfactors.

According to some embodiments, the second computer 450 b is configuredto receive the store data file 436 either directly or indirectly fromthe customer-side financial transaction system 102. In theseembodiments, in response to receiving the data file 436, the secondcomputer 450 b can be configured to automatically transmit a creditinstruction to the banking system 460. In some of these embodiments, theteller software running on the banking system 460 can be configured toreceive the credit instruction and automatically apply a provisionalcredit to the Store's bank account based on the credit instruction.Alternatively, the teller software running on the banking system 460 canfurther require operator input from a bank employee or teller tocomplete the provisional credit. Such operator input can include anoperator credit command directly received by the banking system 460 viathe teller software.

Early Suspect Detection

According to some embodiments, prior to the financial institution system103 issuing a credit to the Store's financial institution account forthe deposit transaction, the financial institution system 103 isconfigured to detect or determine if one or more of the store records inthe store data file 436 are associated with a suspect document. Forexample, according to some embodiments, the financial institution system103 determines if each record associated with a currency bill has aserial number or denomination/serial number combination associated witha suspect currency bill and if each record associated with a check hasMICR data associated with a checking account tied to fraudulentactivity. Such an authentication process is referred to as early oradvanced suspect detection.

According to some embodiments, early suspect detection allows the Bankto deduct the value of any determined suspect documents from the totaldeposit value used in calculating the credit applied to the financialinstitution account of the Store in association with the deposittransaction. The early suspect detection also allows the Bank to makepreparations for receiving the suspect document before the documentphysically arrives at the Bank. For example, the Bank can flag a datafield (e.g., flag code field 333′ of FIG. 3A and flag code field 363′ ofFIG. 3B) or a visually readable image included in a store data fileassociated with the determined suspect document. Such flags can beinformation or data included in a data field or overlaying the visuallyreadable image of the document in an image section (e.g., image sections310, 320, 340, and 350 of FIGS. 3A and 3B) of a record. Additionally,according to some embodiments, the Bank can immediately or promptlynotify the Store of the detected suspect document, sometimes even priorto the store transporting the physical documents to the Bank. Forexample, upon the determination that a store record is associated with asuspect document, the financial institution system 103 canelectronically transmit a notice to the Store. Such advancednotification of suspect documents provides the Store with an advantagewhen attempting to determine how the suspect document was obtained bythe Store—that is, who provided the suspect document to the Store andfor what good(s) or service(s). Such an advanced suspect detection alsodecreases the Bank's and/or the Store's risk of being stuck with a lossassociated with suspect documents.

According to some embodiments, the financial institution system 103automatically performs the early suspect detection by first determiningif any of the store records included in the store data file 436 areassociated with suspect currency bills, associated with checks orchecking accounts linked to fraudulent activity, or otherwise suspectedof being tied to an invalid or improper deposit transaction or suspectdocument. According to some embodiments, the financial institutionsystem 103 determines if any of the store records associated with thedeposit transaction are associated with suspect documents such assuspect counterfeit currency bills by comparing identifying informationassociated with each of the store records associated with the deposittransaction with information in a database (e.g., suspect database). Forexample, according to some embodiments, the second computer 450 b and/orthe second document processing device 101 b is configured to compareextracted serial numbers or denomination/serial number combinations fromeach store record associated with a currency bill against a database ofserial numbers or denomination/serial number combinations of known orsuspected counterfeit currency bills. According to some embodiments, thefinancial institution system 103 determines if any of the store recordsassociated with the deposit transaction are associated with fraudulentchecks or activity by comparing identifying information associated witheach of the store records associated with the deposit transaction withinformation in the same database and/or in a second database. Forexample, according to some embodiments, the second computer 450 b and/orthe second document processing device 101 b is configured to compareextracted checking account numbers from each store record associatedwith a check against the second database of known or suspected checkingaccount numbers tied to fraudulent activity.

As previously discussed, the identifying information can be extractedusing OCR software and/or other extraction software included in thecustomer document processing system 102 and tagged to the respectivestore records included in the store data file 436. Alternatively oradditionally, in response to receiving the store data file 436, thefinancial institution system 103 can be configured to use OCR softwareand/or other extraction software to extract the identifying informationfrom document images received in the store data file 436 and tag to therespective store records in the store data file 436. Such action by thefinancial institution system 103 may be desirable if the Store merelytransmitted a data file 436 including records of documents with visuallyreadable images of documents without any or only limited taggedinformation. Furthermore, in circumstances where the store recordsinclude tagged information, the Bank may nonetheless desire to use itsown OCR software and/or other extraction software to verify the taggedinformation included in each of the store records.

In response to the financial institution system 103 determining that oneor more of the store records in the store data file 436 is associatedwith either a suspect currency bill or a checking account associatedwith fraudulent activity, the financial institution system 103 can flagone or more store records as associated with a counterfeit and/orsuspect document. The store record can be flagged as described above andstored in a memory of the second computer 450 b, a memory of the seconddocument processing device 101 b, a memory of the imaging MPS 400,and/or a memory of the banking system 460. Thus, the flagging providesthe Bank with an electronic record of suspect documents expected tophysically arrive for deposit that are associated with the deposittransaction.

According to some embodiments, each bank maintains a suspect orblacklist database including records associated with suspect billsand/or records associated with checks tied to fraudulent activity.According to some embodiments, in response to a financial institutionsystem determining a document is a suspect document, the system can beconfigured to transmit or otherwise make available such information toall of the bank's branches. It is contemplated that such a method wouldmake it very difficult for an individual attempting to kite checks fromone store location to another (or one bank branch to another) over aseries of days and to successfully pass the checks. According to someembodiments, the system can further be configured to transmit orotherwise make the suspect or blacklist database available to otherbanks and/or financial institutions. For example, if Bank A identifies aproblem with a checking account or currency bill, this information couldbe transmitted to Bank B. Bank B could then notify Bank B's entirebranch network. In a like manner Store A could share with Store B.According to some embodiments, Store A, Store B and Bank A and Bank Bcan all enter into agreement to share their respective suspect and/orblacklist databases or pay a third party provider to develop a masterdatabase, such as the databases described in the Searching/MasterDatabase Section and in connection with FIGS. 12A and 12B, and in othersections of the present disclosure. According to some embodiments, themaster database contains information submitted by all participatingbanks and/or stores, armored carriers, casinos, etc. It is contemplatedthat such a master database is a citywide, statewide, national and/orinternational database. According to some such embodiments, allparticipating entities can have real time visibility for any suspectcurrency bills or checks associated with fraudulent activities found inthe participating network the very same day the document is originallyflagged as a suspect document by one of the participating entities.

According to some embodiments, the second computer 450 b and/or thesecond document processing device 101 b (e.g., the bank documentprocessing system) is configured to transmit data to and/or update adatabase (e.g., suspect database or blacklist database) within thebanking system 460 to reflect that a particular flagged currency billhaving an identified serial number and/or a particular flagged checkhaving an identified checking account number is expected to arrive. Thedatabase can be the database 470 that stores and/or maintains thefinancial institutional accounts or a different database. Such an updatecan be downloaded or uploaded onto all document processing devices(e.g., the second document processing device 101 b, the multiple pocketdocument processing device 400) networked within the financialinstitution system 103 such that the flagged documents are immediatelyoff-sorted and/or presented for review by document processing device(s)that physically encounter the flagged document during processing at theBank.

According to some embodiments, bank employees can view a suspectdatabase of all flagged documents. The database can be viewed on thesecond computer 450 b, a computer or server within the banking system460, or another computer within or communicatively connected with thefinancial institution system 103. According to some embodiments, thesuspect database is configured to organize and illustrate data (e.g.,extracted data) and/or visually readable images associated with flaggeddocuments in a table summary. According to some embodiments, the suspectdatabase is configured to organize and illustrate data and/or visuallyreadable images associated with flagged documents by record. Accordingto some embodiments, the suspect database is configured to organize andillustrate data and/or visually readable images associated with flaggeddocuments that are expected to arrive at the Bank. According to someembodiments, the suspect database is configured to organize andillustrate data and/or visually readable images associated with flaggeddocuments that have physically arrived at the Bank. In theseembodiments, the database can also include information regarding adisposition of the flagged documents, such as, for example, off-sortedand transported to the Federal Reserve or transported back to the Store.

Suspect Notice

According to some embodiments, in response to the financial institutionsystem 103 determining that one or more of the store records in the datafile 436 is associated with a suspect document such as, for example, asuspect currency bill or a checking account associated with fraudulentactivity, the financial institution system 103 can automaticallytransmit and/or otherwise make available a notice to the Store.According to some embodiments, the notice can be referred to as asuspect notice, a fraud notice, or transaction notice. According to someembodiments, the notice can be communicated to a store documentprocessing system (e.g., system 102) or employee of the store the sameday that the store data file was transmitted to and/or received by thefinancial institution system 103. It is contemplated that thedetermining suspect document as described herein can enable banks andlaw enforcement authorities to work with stores to more efficiently dealwith counterfeit documents.

The notice can be transmitted from the second computer 450 b, the seconddocument processing device 101 b, the banking system 460, or any othercomputer associated with the financial institution system 103. Thenotice can be received by the first computer 450 a, the first documentprocessing device 101 a, or any other computer within or communicativelyconnected to the customer document processing system 102 and/or theStore. The notice can be transmitted as an e-mail, a letter, afacsimile, electronic packets, data, encrypted information, etc.

The notice can include the store record and/or the store data fileassociated with the suspect document, one or more visually readableimages of the suspect document, and/or identifying informationassociated with the suspect document. The notice can include anexplanation that the Bank received the electronic portion of the deposittransaction and determined that one or more of the store recordsincluded in the store data file 436 are associated with suspectdocuments. The notice can further indicate that the value of the suspectdocument(s) have been deducted from any credit applied to the Store'sbank account and/or indicate the value of the suspect document(s).

According to some embodiments, the notice can be automaticallytransmitted to one or more other banks or third parties such as, forexample, government entities, bank executives, bank tellers, etc.According to some embodiments, the customer can create acustomer-suspect database based on a plurality of the noticestransmitted from the financial institution system 103. Thecustomer-suspect database can include identifying information ofcurrency bills and checks associated with suspect documents. Thecustomer-suspect database can be stored in a memory of the customerdocument processing system 102 and/or a memory of a computer or servercommunicatively connected to the customer document processing system102. According to some embodiments, the customer-suspect database can bestored in a memory of the store's point of sale (POS) system, such thatstore employees can determine at the POS system whether a particularcheck being presented for payment is associated with fraudulentactivities and can thus make a determination not to accept the check.According to some embodiments, a plurality of customer documentprocessing systems can be communicatively connected to the memorystoring the customer-suspect database to share and/or pool identifyinginformation contained therein. According to some embodiments, thecustomer-suspect database can aid customers in cooperating withfinancial institutions when suspect documents are detected in a deposittransaction. According to some embodiments, the customer documentprocessing system 102 is configured to transmit identifying informationand/or records (e.g., store records) associated with a deposittransaction of a plurality of documents to the server for comparisonwith the customer-suspect database. In some such embodiments, the serveris configured to compare the transmitted identifying information and/orrecords with the identifying information stored in the customer-suspectdatabase to determine if any of the records are associated with asuspect document. According to some embodiments, the customer documentprocessing system 102 can flag one or more records as being associatedwith suspect documents such that the first document processing device101 a is configured to off-sort or stop-and-present the suspectdocuments when encountered by the first document processing device 101 aduring processing.

According to some embodiments, the financial institution system 103automatically transmits the notice in response to a total value ofdetected suspect documents exceeding a predetermined threshold. Forexample, for a threshold of $500.00, if the second computer 450 bdetermines that five records associated with two checks and threecurrency bills are associated with suspect documents and the total valueof the two checks and the three currency bills is over $500.00, thenaccording to some embodiments, the second computer 450 b is configuredto automatically transmit the notice to the Store. If however, the totalvalue of the two checks and the three currency bills is less than$500.00, then the second computer 450 b is configured to not transmitthe notice. However, according to some embodiments, the second computer450 b may nonetheless flag the records associated with the suspectdocuments and optionally be configured to transmit the notice to thebanking system 460, a bank employee, or other person or entity.According to some embodiments, the predetermined threshold can beentered by an operator into the teller software running on the bankingsystem 460 and/or into the second computer 450 b and/or the seconddocument processing device 101 b to set the threshold at any value oramount (e.g., one thousand dollars).

According to some embodiments, in response to the financial institutionsystem 103 determining that one or more of the store records included inthe store data file 436 is associated with either a suspect currencybill or a checking account associated with fraudulent activity, thefinancial institution system 103 automatically deducts a value of eachsuspect document from any credit (e.g., provisional credit or finalcredit) applied to the Store's bank account. For example, it iscontemplated that customer document processing system 102 transmits astore data file over the network 420; the store data file includes aplurality of store records associated with a plurality of documents 435;each of the documents is associated with a value; the financialinstitution system 103 determines that one or more the store records isassociated with a suspect document; the financial institution system 103automatically calculates a provisional credit amount for the store datafile, which automatically deducts the value of each suspect documentprior to automatically issuing or entering the provisional credit forthe Store's bank account.

According to some embodiments, the second computer 450 b and/or thesecond document processing device 101 b (e.g., the bank documentprocessing system) automatically calculates a provisional credit amountfor the store data file 436 and automatically deducts the value of eachsuspect document from the calculated amount prior to transmitting acredit instruction or notice to the banking system 460, which isconfigured to automatically issue or enter the provisional credit forthe Store's bank account without an operator input. Alternatively, thesecond document processing device 101 b and/or the second computer 450 b(e.g., the bank document processing system) transmits a creditinstruction or notice to the banking system 460, which requires one ormore additional operator instructions. In these embodiments, prior tothe banking system 460 updating or entering a credit for the Store'sbank account, the banking system 460 requires an operator input oroperator instruction prior to applying a provisional credit to theStore's bank account.

According to some embodiments, when a particular document becomes adocument of interest, such as when a document is identified assuspect/counterfeit or identified as missing/no-show, individualsassociated with the receipt and/or processing of the document can beidentified through use of the operator and/or personnel fields. Thus,for example, according to some embodiments, when system 100 or devices101, 101′ are employed in a bank customer environment such as a retailstore environment and a bank declines to credit or issues a charge-backin the amount of a suspect/counterfeit bill, the bank customer (e.g.,store) can determine which cashier accepted the suspect/counterfeit bill(such as by searching a database containing the relevant records and/orreceiving that information from the bank along with a charge-backnotice). According to some embodiments, the bank customer charges theamount of the suspect/counterfeit bill back to the individual cashierwho accepted the suspect/counterfeit bill and/or otherwise takes someappropriate action—such as investigating whether the identified cashieris following store currency screening policy, such as, for example,performing one or more authentication tests on currency bills prior toaccepting them. Similarly, according to some embodiments, when a bill isidentified as suspect/counterfeit, a bank can determine which telleraccepted the suspect/counterfeit bill (such as by searching a databasecontaining the relevant records) and take some appropriate action suchas charging the teller for the amount of the suspect/counterfeit billand/or investigating whether the identified teller is following bankcurrency screening policy such as performing one or more authenticationtests on currency bills prior to accepting them and/or whether thedocument processing device(s) 101, 101′, 400 which processed the bill inquestion are operating properly. Similarly, for another example,according to some embodiments, when a document to be deposited isdetermined to be a no-show document at a bank, the bank and or store candetermine who was the last person that processed the physical documentand take appropriate action such as charging the cashier or teller forthe amount of the missing/no-show document and/or investigating whetherthe identified cashier/teller followed the store's document handlingpolicies, such as, for example, transferring documents from the outputreceptacle of the device directly to a lockbox and/or lockable depositbag.

Physical Portion of Deposit Transaction

Referring to FIG. 4B, after the store data file 436 is transmitted tothe financial institution system 103, the store operator or otherpersonal initiates the physical portion of the deposit transaction bygathering a plurality of physical documents 435′ associated with thedeposit transaction. Alternatively or additionally, the store operatorcan gather a plurality of documents associated with a plurality ofelectronic portions of a plurality of deposit transactions for physicaltransportation to the Bank. For example, during the course of a typicalbusiness day at the Store, one or more store representatives may gatherphysical documents from each store clerk's cash till prior to each shiftchange to balance the cash tills and/or otherwise manage the Store'scash registers. After each shift change the one or more store operatorsprocess the gathered documents (e.g., documents 435) in the firstdocument processing device 101 a as described above. However, after thefirst document processing device 101 a completes the processing, thephysical documents are held in a safe or secured place prior tophysically transporting the documents to the Bank. Thus, according tosome such embodiments, the Store accumulates a plurality of physicaldocuments associated with a plurality of deposit transactions throughoutthe workday or work-week.

According to some embodiments, the plurality of physical documents 435′associated with the deposit transaction includes a deposit slip, aplurality of currency bills, and a plurality of checks. According tosome such embodiments, the store operator gathers the deposit slip andthe plurality of currency bills for transportation to the financialinstitution 103. It is contemplated that according to some embodiments,the physical checks do not need to be transported to the financialinstitution system 103. As described above in reference to FIG. 4A, thedata file 436, which includes store records associated with checks thatinclude visually readable images of the respective checks, weretransmitted electronically to the financial institution system 103. Asdescribed above, in some such embodiments, the financial institutionsystem 103 can process the visually readable images of the checkswithout having to physically review and/or process the physical checkdocuments. According to some embodiments, under Check 21 laws in theUnited States, visually readable images of checks can be used in lieu ofphysical checks for check processing operations such as check settlementand clearing. Thus, the Store can withhold the actual physical checksfrom being transported to the Bank in some embodiments. According tosome embodiments, the Store can destroy the physical checks after apredetermined time as agreed on between the Store and the Bank.

The plurality of physical documents 435′ can be transported to the Banksuch as via an armored carrier, a store employee, a courier, a bankemployee, or other trusted person. As illustrated in the FIG. 4B, theplurality of physical documents 435′ arrive at the financial institutionsystem 103 (e.g., Bank) for processing in the second document processingdevice 101 b. A bank teller or employee loads the plurality of physicaldocuments 435′ as one or more stacks into an input receptacle of thesecond document processing device 101 b for processing, as describedabove in relation to the document processing system 100 of FIG. 1.According to some embodiments, the second document processing device 101b initiates document processing by transporting the documents 435′ oneat a time past an image scanner to one or more output receptacles. Theimage scanner in the second document processing device 101 b is used togenerate a bank record and/or a bank data file for each of the documents435′ in a similar manner as the first document processing device 101 ais used to generate the store records and/or the store data file 436.According to some embodiments, the bank records include a visuallyreadable image of the respective documents, identifying information,transactional information, or any combination thereof.

According to some embodiments, a teller inputs the Store's bank accountnumber and/or a transaction identifier into the financial institutionsystem 103. In these embodiments, the financial institution system 103automatically associates the inputted Store bank account number and/orthe transaction identifier with the generated bank records. According tosome such embodiments, the teller can retrieve such information from thedeposit slip included in the plurality of physical documents 435′.According to some embodiments, the bank document processing system isconfigured to extract the Store's bank account number and/or thetransaction identifier from the deposit slip included in the pluralityof physical documents 435′. According to other embodiments, prior toinitiating the document processing, the teller places a header and/ortrailer card with the stack of documents 435′. According to someembodiments, the header/trailer card includes an indicia associated withthe store's bank account number and/or the transaction identifier. Insome of these embodiments, the second document processing device 101 bis configured to scan the header/trailer card to obtain the Store's bankaccount number and/or the transaction identifier and to automaticallyassociate the Store bank account number and/or the transactionidentifier with the bank records associated with the stack of physicaldocuments 435′. In some embodiments, the Store bank account numberand/or the transaction identifier is tagged to each of the generatedbank records.

According to some embodiments, prior to initiating document processing,a teller receives a plurality of batches of documents and places aheader and/or trailer card with each batch of documents to separate eachbatch form the other and to identify each batch as being associated witha respective customer account. That is, the header/trailer cards canidentify a store number and appropriate customer account to be creditedfor each batch of documents. According to some embodiments, theseparated batches of documents are placed in bulk cash trays one batchbeing adjacent to another batch. It is contemplated that according tosuch embodiments, each cash tray would not have to contain batches ofdocuments associated with just one bank customer. Rather, each cash traycould contain batches of documents associated with multiple bankcustomers.

According to some embodiments, the financial institution system 103compares the generated bank records associated with the physicaldocuments 435′ of the deposit transaction with the store recordsincluded in the store data file 436 associated with the deposittransaction to determine if any documents associated with any of thestore records are no-show documents. For example, the customer documentprocessing system 102 transmits a store data file over the network 420.The store data file includes a plurality of store records associatedwith a plurality of physical documents for deposit at the Bank. TheStore then transports the physical documents associated with the storerecords to the financial institution system 103 for verification againstthe store data file. The financial institution system 103 processes thereceived physical documents in the second document processing device 101b to generate bank records. The financial institution system 103 thencompares the bank records with the store records to determine if any ofthe physical documents are missing or no-show documents. It iscontemplated that based on the received store records, the Bank expectsto receive physical documents that correspond to each respective storerecord, or in some embodiments in which checks are not physicaldelivered to the Bank, the Bank expects to receive physical documentsthat correspond to each store record associated with a currency billand/or deposit slip. According to some embodiments, in the case that thefinancial institution system 103 determines one or more of the documentsare no-show documents (e.g., the document was not transported to theBank) the financial institution system 103 and/or bank documentprocessing system or the document processing device 101 b or 400 canautomatically charge-back the Store's bank account an amount equal to avalue of the missing document(s) and/or generate an appropriatecharge-back/debit instruction such as by automatically generating acharge-back instruction reflecting the value of each no-show documentand/or the total value of all no-show documents.

According to some embodiments, the financial institution system 103compares the generated bank records associated with the physicaldocuments 435′ of the deposit transaction with the store recordsincluded in the store data file 436 associated with the deposittransaction to determine if one or more of the bank records isassociated with an unexpected document. For example, the customerdocument processing system 102 transmits a store data file over thenetwork 420. The store data file includes a plurality of store recordsassociated with a plurality of physical documents for deposit at theBank. The Store then transports physical documents associated with thestore records and one or more additional physical documents notassociated with one of the store records, that is, unexpected documents,to the financial institution system 103 for verification. The financialinstitution system 103 processes the received physical documents in thesecond document processing device 101 b to generate bank records. Thefinancial institution system 103 then compares the bank records with thestore records to determine if any of the bank records are associatedwith unexpected documents. That is, the financial institution system 103determines if one or more of the bank records does not correspond withany of the store records. According to some embodiments, in the casethat the financial institution system 103 determines that the physicaldocuments included one or more unexpected documents, the financialinstitution system 103 and/or bank document processing system or thedocument processing device 101 b or 400 can automatically credit theStore's bank account an amount equal to a value of the unexpecteddocument(s) and/or generate an appropriate credit instruction.

According to some embodiments, in response to the financial institutionsystem 103 determining that one or more of the physical documents areno-show documents, the second document processing device 101 b and/orthe second computer 450 b (e.g., the bank document processing system)can be configured to automatically transmit a charge-back instruction tothe banking system 460. In some of these embodiments, the tellersoftware running on the banking system 460 can be configured to receivethe charge-back signal and automatically apply a charge-back or debit tothe Store's bank account based on the charge-back instruction. Forexample, the bank document processing system can transmit a charge-backinstruction to the banking system 460 that instructs the banking system460 to automatically charge-back or debit the Store's bank account anamount equal to a value associated with the determined no-showdocument(s). Alternatively, the teller software running on the bankingsystem 460 can further require operator input from a bank employee orteller to complete the charge-back or debit operation. Such operatorinput can include an operator charge-back command directly received bythe banking system 460.

A non-limiting example involving an automatic charge-back for no-showdocuments associated with a deposit transaction provides that thecustomer document processing system 102 transmits a data file includinga plurality of store records associated with currency bills and checkstotaling, for example, $9,000.00. The financial institution system 103receives the store records associated with the deposit transaction andautomatically applies a credit (e.g., a provisional credit) to theStore's bank account for $9,000.00. The Bank then receives the physicaldocuments associated with the deposit transaction that correspond withthe store records and the second document processing device 101 bprocesses the physical documents and separate bank records are created.After processing the physical documents, the financial institutionsystem 103 determines that store records associated with a $10 currencybill and a $50.00 check do not correspond with any of the bank records.That is, the $10 currency bill and the $50.00 check are no-showdocuments. In response to the determination of the no-show documents,the second document processing device 101 b and/or the second computer450 b can be configured to automatically transmit a charge-backinstruction to the banking system 460. In some of these embodiments, thebanking system 460 can be configured to receive the charge-backinstruction and automatically apply a charge-back or debit to theStore's bank account for sixty dollars based on the charge-backinstruction for the two no-show documents. Alternatively, the bankingsystem 460 can further require operator input from a bank employee orteller to complete the charge-back for the sixty dollars.

According to some embodiments, the financial institution system 103 canbe configured to automatically transmit a notice to the Store indicatingthe detection of the no-show documents. According to some embodiments,the notice sent to the store can include information identifying theno-show document(s) such as by including the store records and/or thestore data file associated with the no-show document(s).

According to some embodiments, the second document processing device 101b generates the bank records and automatically transmits the bankrecords to the second computer 450 b. In these embodiments, the secondcomputer 450 b or other bank computer communicatively connected to orforming part of the banking system 460 performs the comparison of thebank records with the store records to determine if any expecteddocuments are no-show documents for a particular deposit transaction.According to some such embodiments, the item processing system receivedthe bank records and performs the comparison of the bank records withthe store records to determine if any expected documents are no-showdocuments for a particular deposit transaction. According to someembodiments, the second document processing device 101 b and/or thesecond computer 450 b are part of a single device or apparatus—that is,the second document processing device 101 b and/or the second computer450 b are contained within the same housing (e.g., housing 190 of thedocument processing device 101′).

According to some embodiments, the Store transports unexpected documentsto the Bank that do not correspond with a previously transmitted storedata file or record. Such a scenario may occur due to a malfunction orerror in the first document processing device 101 a or the firstcomputer 450 a, occur on accident, or occur on purpose, for example,where some transported documents were never processed by the firstdocument processing device 101 a. According to some embodiments, thefinancial institution system 103 is configured to automatically creditthe Store's bank account for the value of the unexpected document(s).For example, the second computer 450 b transmits a credit instruction tothe banking system 460 to automatically credit the Store's bank accountan amount equal to a value associated with the unexpected document(s).Alternatively, the banking system 460 can further require operator inputfrom a bank employee or teller to complete the credit for the unexpecteddocument(s). According to some embodiments, the credit instruction caninclude identifying information, transaction information, credit/valueamount, etc.

According to some embodiments, the financial institution system 103 canbe configured to automatically transmit a notice to the Store indicatingthe receipt of the unexpected document(s). According to someembodiments, the notice sent to the store can include informationidentifying the unexpected document(s) such as by including the bankrecord and/or bank data file associated with the unexpected document(s).

According to some embodiments, the second document processing device 101b includes an authentication unit. In these embodiments, the seconddocument processing device 101 b authenticates the physical documents435′ as described above in reference to the document processing system100 of FIG. 1. In these embodiments, the second document processingdevice 101 b in communication with the second computer 450 b and/or thebanking system 460 can be configured to automatically charge-back theStore's bank account for any detected suspect documents or generate anappropriate charge-back instruction and/or transmit the same to thebanking system 460. For example, the authentication unit in the seconddocument processing device 101 b may detect a suspect $100.00 currencybill in the plurality of documents 435′ transported to the Bank. Inthese embodiments, the financial institution system 103 can beconfigured to automatically charge-back the Store's bank account onehundred dollars for the suspect $100 currency bill.

According to some embodiments, the financial institution system 103 canbe configured to automatically charge-back the Store's bank account onlyif the total value of all detected suspect documents exceeds apredetermined threshold (e.g., $100.00). According to some embodiments,in the case of detecting a suspect document, the second documentprocessing device 10113 and/or the second computer 450 b incommunication with the banking system 460 can be configured toautomatically transmit a notice to the Store indicating the detection ofa suspect document and the automatic charge-back. According to someembodiments, the notice sent to the store can include informationidentifying the suspect document(s) such as by including the bank recordand/or the store record associated with the suspect document(s) in thenotice.

According to some embodiments, in response to detecting one or moresuspect documents, the bank document processing system can be configuredto automatically transmit a charge-back instruction or notice to thebanking system 460. In these embodiments, the banking system 460 canfurther require operator input in addition to the charge-backinstruction from a bank employee or teller to complete the charge-backfor the detected suspect document(s).

According to some embodiments, the second document processing device 101b includes at least two output receptacles. According to someembodiments, one of the at least two output receptacles is a reject oroff-sort receptacle. In these embodiments, the second documentprocessing device 101 b is configured to send documents determined to becounterfeit, suspect, or non-authentic by the financial institutionsystem 103 to the reject or off-sort receptacle. According to someembodiments, the second document processing device 101 b is configuredto automatically send documents associated with flagged records to thereject receptacle or a different reject receptacle. For example,according to some embodiments, the bank document processing system isconfigured to receive a plurality of store records. The bank documentprocessing system is configured to determine if one or more of the storerecords is associated with a suspect document by comparing the storerecords with data in one or more databases. In response to the bankdocument processing system determining that one or more of the storerecords is associated with a suspect document, the bank documentprocessing system flags the specific store record as suspect and causesthe second document processing device 101 b to automatically off-sortthe suspect document if, or when, encountered.

According to some embodiments, the bank document processing system isconfigured to update a database of identifying information, such as, forexample, currency bill serial numbers and/or checking account numbers,associated with suspect documents. According to some embodiments, thedatabase is stored in a memory of the second document processing device101 b. In these embodiments, the second document processing device 101 bis configured to receive documents in the input receptacle andautomatically transport/off-sort documents into a reject receptacle whenthe documents correspond with the identifying information stored in thedatabase.

According to some embodiments, the second document processing device 101b includes a plurality of output receptacles for sorting the pluralityof physical documents 435′. In these embodiments, the second documentprocessing device 101 b is configured to receive the physical documents435′ in an input receptacle and transport the documents 435′ one at atime along a transport path past one or more image scanners as describedabove in relation to FIG. 1. The second document processing device 101 bis configured to sort the checks and the currency bills into separateoutput receptacles. According to some embodiments, the second documentprocessing device 101 b is configured to sort each denomination ofcurrency bill into separate ones of the plurality of output receptacles.According to some embodiments, the second document processing device 101b is configured to sort on-us checks into one of the plurality of outputreceptacles and to sort transit checks into a different one of theplurality of output receptacles. It is contemplated that various numbersand types of output receptacles maybe included in the second documentprocessing device 101 b for sorting suspect documents, flaggeddocuments, documents unreadable using OCR or other software, etc. intoseparate output receptacles.

According to some embodiments, the imaging MPS and/or device is(are)configured to operate in a Deposit Track Mode of Operation and/or aDeposit Verification Mode of Operation to track currency billsthroughout a bank including a bank vault. According to some embodiments,the financial institution system 103 processes the physical documents435′ using the second document processing device 101 b and a multiplepocket document processing device 400 (“MPS”) as shown in FIGS. 4A and4B. In some such embodiments, the second document processing device 101b includes a single input receptacle for receiving the physicaldocuments 435′ and a single output receptacle for returning the physicaldocuments 435′ to an operator after processing. Thus, the seconddocument processing device 101 b does not sort the documents intoseparate receptacles based on the type of document and/or thedenomination or value of the documents 435′.

According to some embodiments, the second document processing device 101b does not include any authentication sensors such that the seconddocument processing device 101 b does not determine and/or stop on oroff-sort suspect documents. According to some alternative embodiments,the second document processing device 101 b includes authenticationsensors such that the second document processing device 101 b candetermine whether a document is suspect, but in response to determiningthat a document is a suspect document, the second document processingdevice 101 b does not stop on or off-sort the suspect document.According to some such embodiments, the second document processingdevice 101 b only records the document as a suspect in an associatedrecord. According to some embodiments, the MPS 400 is configured tooff-soft suspect documents for further processing. According to suchembodiments, the off-sorting of suspect documents in the MPS 400 only,can increase document processing efficiency in the financial institutionsystem 103 as the second document processing device 101 b is permittedto continually process documents without having to stop on or off-sortsuspect documents.

According to some embodiments, the second document processing device 101b is located at a teller window or station for verifying Store depositsin relatively small batches. In these embodiments, a teller receives aplurality of deposits from one or more customers (e.g., Stores, casinos,etc.) and verifies the deposits using the second document processingdevice 101 b in conjunction with the second computer 450 b. After theteller receives a predetermined total amount of documents (e.g., one ormore trays full of documents) or at a predetermine time (e.g., a shiftchange) the documents are physically transported to the imaging MPS 400for further processing.

According to some embodiments, the imaging MPS 400 is a large scaledocument processing device that may be located in a backroom or vault ofa financial institution, such as, for example, the Bank. According tosome embodiments, the imaging MPS 400 sorts the documents by type ofdocument (e.g., checks and currency) and by denomination or value.According to some embodiments, the imaging MPS 400 authenticates thedocuments using an authentication unit. According to some embodiments,the imaging MPS 400 scans the documents with one or more image scannersto generate a bank record for each of the documents in the same, orsimilar, manner discussed above in relation to document processingsystem 100, customer document processing system 102, and bank documentprocessing system. In these embodiments, the imaging MPS 400 can savethe bank records in a memory in the imaging MPS 400, in a memorycommunicatively connected to the imaging MPS 400, and/or in a memorywithin the banking system 460 for permanent or short-term storage.

According to some embodiments, the imaging MPS 400 is configured tocompare the bank records generated using the imaging MPS with the bankrecords generated using the second document processing device 101 band/or the store records. A comparison of the bank records generatedusing the imaging MPS 400 with the bank records generated using thesecond document processing device 101 b can indicate if any documentswent missing during transit of the documents from the teller window orstation to the backroom or vault of the Bank. In these embodiments, theimaging MPS 400 can be configured to automatically generate and/ortransmit a notice or instruction regarding the missing document(s).According to some embodiments, the notice is automatically printed on aprinter communicatively linked to the imaging MPS 400 and/or the bankingsystem 460 or is automatically transmitted to one or more bank employeesincluding the teller, a bank manager, etc.

According to some embodiments, the MPS 400 is configured to determine afitness of each document being processed. For example, the MPS 400 canemploy one or more fitness sensors to determine if a currency bill isworn, torn, soiled, etc. According to some such embodiments, unfitdocuments can be off-sorted for further processing by an operator of theMPS 400. For example, the operator of the MPS can search a database ofrecords in the same, or similar, manner as described in the Modes ofOperation—Searching/Master Database Section, and in other sections ofthe present disclosure, to determine which bank customer deposited theunfit bills. According to some embodiments, the MPS 400 is configured toautomatically access the database and update records contained thereinwith fitness information of the bills being processed. It iscontemplated that such fitness information can be used by financialinstitutions to better understand the cost of processing the documentsfrom the financial institution's various customers. Additionaldisclosure on determining fitness of a document can be found in U.S.Pat. No. 6,913,260, entitled “Currency Processing System with FitnessDetection” and U.S. Patent Application No. 2007/0122023 A1, entitled“Currency Processing System with Fitness Detection”.

According to some embodiments, a Store can use a document processingsystem or device according to the present disclosure to avoid having toprocess check documents using an Automated Clearing House (“ACH”)—thatis, the store can contract with a third party ACH in a similar manner asdescribed in the Deposit Transaction Section, and in other sections ofthe present disclosure, to process on-us and/or transit checks. Forexample, the Store can process all checks written by Store patrons forgoods and/or services using the customer document processing system 102.Thus, a record including a visually readable image of a check isgenerated for all of the checks as described herein. According to someembodiments, the visually readable image of the check in a specificrecord is referred to as an Image Replacement Document (“IRD”), thatserves as a substitute check under Check 21 laws in the United States.Thus, according to some embodiments, the Store can transmit or send aplurality of records and/or data files including respective IRDS foreach check to the third party ACH and/or bank for a credit in a similarmanner as described above in reference to FIG. 4A. According to somesuch embodiments, one or more devices and/or systems of the ACH can beconfigured to transmit and/or otherwise make available check depositinformation such that the bank's accounting system can be updated toreflect the check transactions.

According to some embodiments, processing checks according to themethods described herein that generate visually readable images of thechecks or IRDs, decreases the Store's risk of being stuck with a lossassociated with a bad check (e.g., a check that bounces, insufficientfunds, fraudulent check, etc.). For example, according to someembodiments, an ACH transaction scans a check and converts the checkinto electronic data that is forwarded to a bank or third party toinitiate payment in a similar fashion as a debit card or credit cardtransaction. Thus, no image is created in connection with the ACHtransaction. As compared to some of the methods of the presentdisclosure, where the document processing system, such as the customerdocument processing system 102, generates a record associated with eachcheck such that the store can review the records in the case of a badcheck and determine who gave the Store the bad check, when it was given,etc. For example, as described above, the records can include one ormore visually readable images of one or both sides of the check,extracted MICR characters, etc. Thus, according to some embodiments, theStore searches a database of records to locate the record associatedwith a bad check. The Store can review the record to obtain variousinformation to help determine the source of the bad check and takeappropriate steps to locate the person responsible for payment.

Document Processing Speeds

For the following document processing speeds disclosure, the documentprocessing device 101, the document processing device 101′, the multiplepocket document processing device 400, the document processing system100, the document processing devices 101 a,b, the customer documentprocessing system 102, and the financial institution document processingsystem, which are all discussed in detail above with respect to FIGS. 1,2A-C, 4A, and 4B, are collectively referred to herein as the documentprocessing devices and systems of the present disclosure. Thus, specificreference to any of the elements or components of the documentprocessing device 101, such as, for example, the input receptacle 110,the transport mechanism 120, the output receptacle 130, the imagescanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, the authentication unit 145, thecontroller 150, the memory 160, the control panel 170, and/or thecommunications port 180, are by way of example and is not intended tolimit the following disclosure to the document processing device 101.

Referring generally to FIGS. 1, 2A-C, 4A, and 4B, according to someembodiments, the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b have a pixelcapture scan rate up to about twenty Megapixels per second. According tosome such embodiments, for documents having dimensions smaller thanabout 10 inches×about 5 inches, the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 bcan capture at least about 1200 documents per minute at a resolution ofabout 200 DPI×100 DPI or less (e.g., 100 DPI×100 DPI) and at a pixelcapture rate of about twenty Megapixels per second. According to somesuch embodiments, for documents having dimensions smaller than about 9.1inches×five inches, the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b can captureat least about 1200 documents per minute at a resolution of about 200DPI×100 DPI and at a pixel capture rate of about twenty Megapixels persecond. According to some such embodiments, for documents havingdimensions smaller than about 9.1 inches×five inches, the imagescanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b can capture at least about 600 documentsper minute at a resolution of about 200 DPI×200 DPI and at a pixelcapture rate of about twenty Megapixels per second. The image scanner(s)140 a and/or 140 b include a proportionate number of output datachannels to transmit scanned data captured by the image scanner(s) 140 aand/or 140 b to the controller 150 and/or the memory 160 as visuallyreadable images for processing (e.g., denomination, OCR, authentication,etc.). According to some such embodiments, the image scanner(s) 140 aand/or 140 b include about 4 output data channels, although othernumbers of output data channels are contemplated. According to someembodiments, each of the output data channels can output or be read atabout five Megapixels per second in parallel, that is, at the same time.

According to some embodiments, the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 bhave a pixel capture scan rate up to about forty Megapixels per second.According to some such embodiments, for documents having dimensionssmaller than about 10 inches×about 5 inches, the image scanner(s) 140 aand/or 140 b can capture at least about 1200 documents per minute at aresolution of about 200 DPI×100 DPI and at a pixel capture rate of abouttwenty Megapixels per second. According to some such embodiments, fordocuments having dimensions smaller than about 9.1 inches×five inches,the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b can capture at least about 1200documents per minute at a resolution of about 200 DPI×100 DPI and at apixel capture rate of about twenty Megapixels per second. According tosome such embodiments, for documents having dimensions smaller thanabout 9.1 inches×five inches, the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 bcan capture at least about 1200 documents per minute at a resolution ofabout 200 DPI×200 DPI and at a pixel capture rate of about fortyMegapixels per second. According to some such embodiments, for documentshaving dimensions smaller than about 9.1 inches×five inches, the imagescanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b can capture at least about 2400 documentsper minute at a resolution of about 200 DPI×100 DPI and at a pixelcapture rate of about forty Megapixels per second. The image scanner(s)140 a and/or 140 b include a proportionate number of output datachannels to transmit the scanned data captured by the image scanner(s)140 a and/or 140 b to the controller 150 and/or the memory 160 asvisually readable images for processing (e.g., denomination, OCR,authentication, etc.). According to some such embodiments, the imagescanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b include about 8 output data channels,although other numbers of output data channels are contemplated.According to some embodiments, each of the output data channels canoutput or be read at about five Megapixels per second in parallel, thatis, at the same time.

According to some embodiments, for a check transportation speed and/orprocessing speed of about 150 checks per minute (about 12.5 inches persecond), the controller 150 and/or memory 160 have about 157.5milliseconds to receive the scanned data from the image scanner(s) 140 aand/or 140 b, crop each visually readable image, deskew each croppedvisually readable image, and/or OCR one or more portions of the croppedand deskewed visually readable image and are configured to perform allthese operations in less than about 157.5 milliseconds. According tosome embodiments, the document processing devices and systems of thepresent disclosure are configured to process commercial checks at a rateof at least about 150 checks per minute. According to some embodiments,for a check transportation speed and/or processing speed of about 250checks per minute (about 21 inches per second), the controller 150and/or memory 160 have about 87.5 milliseconds to receive the scanneddata from the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, crop each visuallyreadable image, deskew each cropped visually readable image, and/or OCRone or more portions of the cropped and deskewed visually readable imageand are configured to perform all these operations in less than about87.5 milliseconds. According to some embodiments, the documentprocessing devices and systems of the present disclosure are configuredto process personal checks at a rate of at least about 250 checks perminute. According to some embodiments, the larger physical dimensions ofcommercial checks require additional processing time as compared topersonal checks to perform the above described processing operations.

According to some embodiments, for a document transportation speedand/or processing speed of about 300 documents per minute (about 25inches per second), the controller 150 and/or memory 160 have about 70milliseconds to receive the scanned data from the image scanner(s) 140 aand/or 140 b, crop each visually readable image, deskew each croppedvisually readable image, denominate each visually readable image forcurrency bills, OCR one or more portions of the cropped and deskewedvisually readable image for currency bills and checks, and/orauthenticate the visually readable image for currency bills and checksand are configured to perform all these operations in less than about 70milliseconds. According to some embodiments, for a documenttransportation speed and/or processing speed of about 600 documents perminute (about 50 inches per second), the controller 150 and/or memory160 have about 35 milliseconds to receive the scanned data from theimage scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, crop each visually readable image,deskew each cropped visually readable image, denominate each visuallyreadable image for currency bills, OCR one or more portions of thecropped and deskewed visually readable image for currency bills andchecks, and/or authenticate the visually readable image for currencybills and checks and are configured to perform all these operations inless than about 35 milliseconds. According to some embodiments, for adocument transportation speed and/or processing speed of about 1200documents per minute (about 100 inches per second), the controller 150and/or memory 160 have about 17.5 milliseconds to receive the scanneddata from the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, crop each visuallyreadable image, deskew each cropped visually readable image, denominateeach visually readable image for currency bills, OCR one or moreportions of the cropped and deskewed visually readable image forcurrency bills and checks, and/or authenticate the visually readableimage for currency bills and checks and are configured to perform allthese operations in less than about 17.5 milliseconds. According to someembodiments, for a document transportation speed and/or processing speedof about 2000 documents per minute (about 167 inches per second), thecontroller 150 and/or memory 160 have about 10.5 milliseconds to receivethe scanned data from the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, crop eachvisually readable image, deskew each cropped visually readable image,denominate each visually readable image for currency bills, OCR one ormore portions of the cropped and deskewed visually readable image forcurrency bills and checks, and/or authenticate the visually readableimage for currency bills and checks and are configured to perform allthese operations in less than about 10.5 milliseconds.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices andsystems of the present disclosure are each configured to perform thefollowing processing operations: transport a plurality of currency billsone at a time, past one or more image scanners, such as image scanner(s)140 a and/or 140 b, scan each currency bill at a pixel capture rate ofabout twenty Megapixels per second to produce a visually readable imagehaving a resolution of about 200 DPI×80 DPI, and denominate each of thecurrency bills based on the produced visually readable images at a rateof at least about 1500 currency bills per minute. According to someembodiments, the document processing devices and systems of the presentdisclosure can perform the above stated processing operations at a rateof at least about 400 currency bills per minute. According to someembodiments, the document processing devices and systems of the presentdisclosure can perform the above stated processing operations at a rateof at least about 800 currency bills per minute. According to someembodiments, the document processing devices and systems of the presentdisclosure can perform the above stated processing operations at a rateof at least about 1000 currency bills per minute. According to someembodiments, the document processing devices and systems of the presentdisclosure can perform the above stated processing operations at a rateof at least about 1200 currency bills per minute. According to someembodiments, the document processing devices and systems of the presentdisclosure can perform the above stated processing operations at aresolution of 200 DPI×100 DPI at a rate of at least about 1600 currencybills per minute by employing one or more image scanners, such as imagescanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, capable of scanning each currency bill ata pixel capture rate of about forty Megapixels per second. According tosome embodiments, the document processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b canperform the above stated processing operations at any of the abovestated rates for the plurality of currency bills, where the plurality ofcurrency bills are U.S. currency bills transported with a wide edgeleading. According to some such embodiments, the document processingdevice 101, 101′, 101 a,b can perform the above stated processingoperations at any of the above stated rates where the documentprocessing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b has a footprint of less than abouttwo square feet and/or a weight of less than about 30 pounds. Accordingto some such embodiments, the weight is about 21 pounds including anexternal power supply and about 19 pounds without including the externalpower supply.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices andsystems of the present disclosure are each configured to perform thefollowing processing operations: transport a plurality of currency billsone at a time, past one or more image scanners, such as image scanner(s)140 a and/or 140 b, image each currency bill at a pixel capture rate ofabout twenty Megapixels per second to produce image data that isreproducible as a visually readable image having a resolution of about200 DPI×200 DPI, 200 DPI×100 DPI, or 200 DPI×80 DPI of that currencybill, down-sample the image data to about 64 DPI×about 1 DPI, anddenominate each of the currency bills based on the down-sampled imagedata at a rate of at least about 1500 currency bills per minute.According to some embodiments, the document processing devices andsystems of the present disclosure can perform the above statedprocessing operations at a rate of at least about 600 currency bills perminute. According to some embodiments, the document processing devicesand systems of the present disclosure can perform the above statedprocessing operations at a rate of at least about 800 currency bills perminute. According to some embodiments, the document processing devicesand systems of the present disclosure can perform the above statedprocessing operations at a rate of at least about 1000 currency billsper minute. According to some embodiments, the document processingdevices and systems of the present disclosure can perform the abovestated processing operations at a rate of at least about 1150 currencybills per minute. According to some embodiments, the document processingdevices and systems of the present disclosure can perform the abovestated processing operations at a rate of at least about 1200 currencybills per minute. According to some embodiments, the document processingdevices and systems of the present disclosure can perform the abovestated processing operations at a resolution of 200 DPI×100 DPI at arate of at least about 1600 currency bills per minute by employing oneor more image scanners, such as image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b,capable of scanning each currency bill at a pixel capture rate of aboutforty Megapixels per second. According to some embodiments, the documentprocessing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b can perform the above statedprocessing operations at any of the above stated rates for the pluralityof currency bills, where the plurality of currency bills are U.S.currency bills transported with a wide edge leading. According to somesuch embodiments, the document processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b canperform the above stated processing operations at any of the abovestated rates where the document processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b hasa footprint of less than about two square feet and/or a weight of lessthan about 30 pounds.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices andsystems of the present disclosure are each configured to perform thefollowing processing operations: transport a plurality of currency billsone at a time, past one or more image scanners, such as image scanner(s)140 a, and/or 140 b, scan each currency bill at a pixel capture rate ofabout twenty Megapixels per second to produce a visually readable imagehaving a resolution of about 200 DPI×100 DPI, denominate each of thecurrency bills based on the produced visually readable images, crop anddeskew a serial number snippet image for each currency bill, extract aserial number from each serial number snippet image, tag the extractedserial number to a record (e.g., records 300 a-d, 305 a-h) including therespective serial number snippet image, and transmit the record to anexternal storage device, such as, for example, a memory in the computer151, a memory in the first computer 450 a, or a memory in the secondcomputer 450 b, at a rate of at least about 1200 currency bills perminute. According to some embodiments, the records are transmitted fromthe document processing device, such as document processing device 101via an Ethernet communications port. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing devices and systems of the present disclosure areconfigured to compress the records prior to transmitting the records.According to some embodiments, the document processing devices andsystems of the present disclosure can perform the above statedprocessing operations at a rate of at least about 400 currency bills perminute. According to some embodiments, the document processing devicesand systems of the present disclosure can perform the above statedprocessing operations at a rate of at least about 800 currency bills perminute. According to some embodiments, the document processing devicesand systems of the present disclosure can perform the above statedprocessing operations at a rate of at least about 1000 currency billsper minute. According to some embodiments, the document processingdevices and systems of the present disclosure can perform the abovestated processing operations at a rate of at least about 1200 currencybills per minute. According to some embodiments, the document processingdevices and systems of the present disclosure can perform the abovestated processing operations at a rate of at least about 2400 currencybills per minute by employing one or more image scanners, such as imagescanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, capable of scanning each currency bill ata pixel capture rate of about forty Megapixels per second. According tosome embodiments, the document processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b canperform the above stated processing operations at any of the abovestated rates for the plurality of currency bills, where the plurality ofcurrency bills are U.S. currency bills transported with a wide edgeleading. According to some such embodiments, the document processingdevice 101, 101′, 101 a,b can perform the above stated processingoperations at any of the above stated rates where the documentprocessing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b has a footprint of less than abouttwo square feet and/or a weight of less than about 30 pounds and/orsatisfies the other dimensional and weight limitations mentioned in thepresent disclosure in connection with the document processing device101′.

According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101, thedocument processing device 101′, and the document processing devices 101a,b are each configured to perform the following processing operations:transport a plurality of currency bills one at a time, with a wide edgeleading, past one or more image scanners, such as image scanner(s) 140a, and/or 140 b, scan each currency bill at a pixel capture rate ofabout twenty Megapixels per second to produce a visually readable imagehaving a resolution of about 200 DPI×100 DPI, denominate each of thecurrency bills based on the produced visually readable images, crop anddeskew a serial number snippet image for each currency bill, extract aserial number from each serial number snippet image to producerespective extracted serial number data, and transmit each of therespective serial number snippet images and respective extracted serialnumber data to an external storage device (e.g., a memory in thecomputer 151) to generate a record (e.g., records 300 a-d, 305 a-h) foreach of the currency bills at a rate of at least about 800 currencybills per minute. According to some embodiments, the document processingdevices and systems of the present disclosure can perform the abovestated processing operations at a rate of at least about 400 currencybills per minute. According to some embodiments, the document processingdevices and systems of the present disclosure can perform the abovestated processing operations at a rate of at least about 600 currencybills per minute. According to some embodiments, the document processingdevices and systems of the present disclosure can perform the abovestated processing operations at a rate of at least about 1000 currencybills per minute. According to some embodiments, the document processingdevice 101, the document processing device 101′, and the documentprocessing devices 101 a,b can perform the above stated processingoperations at a rate of at least about 1000 currency bills per minute.According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101, thedocument processing device 101′, and the document processing devices 101a,b can perform the above stated processing operations at a rate of atleast about 1200 currency bills per minute. According to someembodiments, the document processing device 101, the document processingdevice 101′, and the document processing devices 101 a,b can perform theabove stated processing operations at a rate of at least about 2400currency bills per minute by employing one or more image scanners, suchas image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, capable of scanning eachcurrency bill at a pixel capture rate of about forty Megapixels persecond. According to some embodiments, the document processing device101, the document processing device 101′, and the document processingdevices 101 a,b can each perform the above stated processing operationsat any of the above stated rates for the plurality of currency bills,where the plurality of currency bills are U.S. currency bills. Accordingto some such embodiments, the document processing device 101, thedocument processing device 101′, and the document processing devices 101a,b can each perform the above stated processing operations at any ofthe above stated rates where the document processing device 101, thedocument processing device 101′, and the document processing devices 101a,b each has a footprint of less than about two square feet and/or aweight of less than about 30 pounds and/or satisfies the otherdimensional and weight limitations mentioned in the present disclosurein connection with the document processing device 101′.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices andsystems of the present disclosure are each configured to perform thefollowing processing operations: transport a plurality of currency billsone at a time, past one or more image scanners, such as the imagescanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, scan each currency bill at a pixelcapture rate of about twenty Megapixels per second to produce a visuallyreadable image of both sides of each currency bill having a resolutionof about 200 DPI×100 DPI, denominate each of the currency bills based onthe produced visually readable images, crop and deskew the visuallyreadable images of both sides of each currency bill, extract one or moreserial numbers from the visually readable images for each of thecurrency bills to produce respective extracted serial number data, andtransmit each of the respective visually readable images of both sidesof each currency bill and respective extracted serial number data to anexternal storage device (e.g., a memory in the computer 151) to generatea record (e.g., records 300 a-d, 305 a-h) for each of the currency billsat a rate of at least about 1200 currency bills per minute. According tosome embodiments, the document processing devices and systems of thepresent disclosure can perform the above stated processing operations ata rate of at least about 400 currency bills per minute. According tosome embodiments, the document processing devices and systems of thepresent disclosure can perform the above stated processing operations ata rate of at least about 800 currency bills per minute. According tosome embodiments, the document processing devices and systems of thepresent disclosure can perform the above stated processing operations ata rate of at least about 1000 currency bills per minute. According tosome embodiments, the document processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b canperform the above stated processing operations at any of the abovestated rates for the plurality of currency bills, where the plurality ofcurrency bills are U.S. currency bills transported with a wide edgeleading. According to some such embodiments, the document processingdevice 101, 101′, 101 a,b can perform the above stated processingoperations at any of the above stated rates where the documentprocessing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b has a footprint of less than abouttwo square feet and/or a weight of less than about 30 pounds and/orsatisfies the other dimensional and weight limitations mentioned in thepresent disclosure in connection with the document processing device101′.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices andsystems of the present disclosure are each configured to perform thefollowing processing operations: transport a plurality of currency billsone at a time, past one or more image scanners, such as the imagescanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, scan each currency bill at a pixelcapture rate of about twenty Megapixels per second to produce a visuallyreadable image of both sides of each currency bill having a resolutionof about 200 DPI×200 DPI, denominate each of the currency bills based onthe produced visually readable images, crop and deskew the visuallyreadable images of both sides of each currency bill, extract one or moreserial numbers from the visually readable images for each of thecurrency bills to produce respective extracted serial number data, andtransmit each of the respective visually readable images of both sidesof each currency bill and respective extracted serial number data to anexternal storage device (e.g., a memory in the computer 151) to generatea record (e.g., records 300 a-d, 305 a-h) for each of the currency billsat a rate of at least about 600 currency bills per minute. According tosome embodiments, the document processing devices and systems of thepresent disclosure can perform the above stated processing operations ata rate of at least about 200 currency bills per minute. According tosome embodiments, the document processing devices and systems of thepresent disclosure can perform the above stated processing operations ata rate of at least about 400 currency bills per minute. According tosome embodiments, the document processing devices and systems of thepresent disclosure can perform the above stated processing operations ata rate of at least about 600 currency bills per minute. According tosome embodiments, the document processing devices and systems of thepresent disclosure can perform the above stated processing operations ata rate of at least about 800 currency bills per minute. According tosome embodiments, the document processing devices and systems of thepresent disclosure can perform the above stated processing operations ata rate of at least about 1150 currency bills per minute by employing oneor more image scanners, such as image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b,capable of scanning each currency bill at a pixel capture rate of aboutforty Megapixels per second. According to some embodiments, the documentprocessing devices and systems of the present disclosure can perform theabove stated processing operations at a rate of at least about 1200currency bills per minute by employing one or more image scanners, suchas image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, capable of scanning eachcurrency bill at a pixel capture rate of about forty Megapixels persecond. According to some embodiments, the document processing device101, 101′, 101 a,b can perform the above stated processing operations atany of the above stated rates for the plurality of currency bills, wherethe plurality of currency bills are U.S. currency bills transported witha wide edge leading. According to some such embodiments, the documentprocessing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b can perform the above statedprocessing operations at any of the above stated rates where thedocument processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b has a footprint of lessthan about two square feet and/or a weight of less than about 30 poundsand/or satisfies the other dimensional and weight limitations mentionedin the present disclosure in connection with the device 101′.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices andsystems of the present disclosure are each configured to perform thefollowing processing operations: transport a plurality of checks one ata time, past one or more image scanners, such as the image scanner(s)140 a and/or 140 b, scan each check at a pixel capture rate of abouttwenty Megapixels per second to produce a visually readable image ofboth sides of each check having a resolution of about 200 DPI×200 DPI,crop and deskew the visually readable images of both sides of eachcheck, extract MICR characters from the visually readable images foreach of the checks to produce respective extracted MICR character data,and transmit each of the respective visually readable images of bothsides of each check and respective extracted MICR character data to anexternal storage device (e.g., a memory in the computer 151) to generatea record (e.g., records 300 a-d, 305 a-h) for each of the checks at arate of at least about 600 checks per minute. According to someembodiments, the checks are personal or standard size checks, commercialchecks, or a combination of both. The MICR characters can include achecking account number, a routing number, a check number, or anycombination thereof. According to some embodiments, the one or moreimage scanners produce the visually readable image of both sides of eachof the checks having a resolution of about 200 DPI×100 DPI. According tosome embodiments, the one or more image scanners produce the visuallyreadable image of both sides of each of the checks having a resolutionof about 200 DPI×300 DPI. According to some embodiments, the one or moreimage scanners produce the visually readable image of both sides of eachof the checks having a resolution of about 300 DPI×300 DPI. According tosome embodiments, the document processing devices and systems of thepresent disclosure can perform the above stated processing operations ata rate of at least about 100 checks per minute. According to someembodiments, the document processing devices and systems of the presentdisclosure can perform the above stated processing operations at a rateof at least about 150 checks per minute. According to some embodiments,the document processing devices and systems of the present disclosurecan perform the above stated processing operations at a rate of at leastabout 200 checks per minute. According to some embodiments, the documentprocessing devices and systems of the present disclosure can perform theabove stated processing operations at a rate of at least about 300checks per minute. According to some embodiments, the documentprocessing devices and systems of the present disclosure can perform theabove stated processing operations at a rate of at least about 400checks per minute. According to some embodiments, the documentprocessing devices and systems of the present disclosure can perform theabove stated processing operations at a rate of at least about 800checks per minute at a resolution of about 200 DPI×200 DPI. According tosome embodiments, the document processing devices and systems of thepresent disclosure can perform the above stated processing operations ata rate of at least about 1000 checks per minute at a resolution of about200 DPI×200 DPI. According to some embodiments, the document processingdevices and systems of the present disclosure can perform the abovestated processing operations at a rate of at least about 1200 checks perminute at a resolution of about 200 DPI×200 DPI by employing one or moreimage scanners, such as image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, capable ofscanning each check at a pixel capture rate of about forty Megapixelsper second. According to some embodiments, the document processingdevice 101, 101′, 101 a,b can perform the above stated processingoperations at any of the above stated rates for the plurality of checks,where the plurality of checks are transported with a wide edge leading.According to some such embodiments, the document processing device 101,101′, 101 a,b can perform the above stated processing operations at anyof the above stated rates where the document processing device 101,101′, 101 a,b has a footprint of less than about two square feet and/ora weight of less than about 30 pounds and/or satisfies the otherdimensional and weight limitations mentioned in the present disclosurein connection with the device 101′.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices andsystems of the present disclosure are each configured to perform thefollowing processing operations: transport a plurality of documentsincluding intermixed currency bills and checks one at a time, past oneor more image scanners, such as the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b,scan each document at a pixel capture rate of about twenty Megapixelsper second to produce a visually readable image of both sides of eachdocument having a resolution of about 200 DPI×200 DPI, crop and deskewthe visually readable images of both sides of each document, forcurrency bills denominate each of the currency bills based on theproduced visually readable images and extract one or more serial numbersfrom the visually readable images for each of the currency bills toproduce respective extracted serial number data and transmit each of therespective visually readable images of both sides of each currency billand respective extracted serial number data to an external storagedevice (e.g., a memory in the computer 151) to generate a currency billrecord (e.g., records 300 a,c,d, 305 a-h) for each of the currencybills, for checks extract MICR characters from the visually readableimages for each of the checks to produce respective extracted MICRcharacter data and transmit each of the respective visually readableimages of both sides of each check and respective extracted MICRcharacter data to the external storage device to generate a check record(e.g., record 300 b) for each of the checks, all at a rate of at leastabout 600 documents per minute. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing devices and systems of the present disclosure canperform the above stated processing operations at a rate of at leastabout 200 documents per minute. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing devices and systems of the present disclosure canperform the above stated processing operations at a rate of at leastabout 400 documents per minute. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing devices and systems of the present disclosure canperform the above stated processing operations at a rate of at leastabout 600 documents per minute. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing devices and systems of the present disclosure canperform the above stated processing operations at a rate of at leastabout 800 documents per minute. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing devices and systems of the present disclosure canperform the above stated processing operations at a rate of at leastabout 1000 documents per minute. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing devices and systems of the present disclosure canperform the above stated processing operations at a rate of at leastabout 1200 documents per minute by employing one or more image scanners,such as image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, capable of scanning eachdocument at a pixel capture rate of about forty Megapixels per second.According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101, 101′,101 a,b can perform the above stated processing operations at any of theabove stated rates for the plurality of documents, where the intermixedcurrency bills are U.S. currency bills and the documents are transportedwith a wide edge leading. According to some such embodiments, thedocument processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b can perform the abovestated processing operations at any of the above stated rates where thedocument processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b has a footprint of lessthan about two square feet and/or a weight of less than about 30 poundsand/or satisfies the other dimensional and weight limitations mentionedin the present disclosure in connection with the device 101′.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices 101,101′, 101 a,b are each configured to perform the following processingoperations: (1) transport documents, one at a time, past two imagescanners, (2) scan the documents with the two image scanners at a pixelcapture rate of at least about forty Megapixels per second to produce arecord for each document including a visually readable image of bothsides of each document having a resolution of at least 200 dpi×200 dpi,(3) deskew and crop the visually readable images, for records associatedwith currency bills (4)(i) denominate currency bills including U.S.currency bills based on one or both of the visually readable images inan associated record, (ii) extract identifying information from one orboth of the visually readable images, and (iii) tag the extractedidentifying information to one or more data fields included in therecord, for records associated with checks (5)(i) extract identifyinginformation from one or both of the visually readable images and (ii)tag the extracted identifying information to one or more data fieldsincluded in the record, and (6) buffer the records in an internal memoryof the document processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b at a rate of atleast about 1200 documents per minute. In these embodiments, thedocument processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b can further transmit thebuffered records via a communications port, such as the communicationsport 180, to an external memory, such as a memory in the computer 151,at a rate of at least about 1100 documents per minute. According to someembodiments, the document processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b canperform the above stated processing operations at a rate of at leastabout 250 documents per minute. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b can perform the abovestated processing operations at a rate of at least about 500 documentsper minute. According to some embodiments, the document processingdevice 101, 101′, 101 a,b can perform the above stated processingoperations at a rate of at least about 750 documents per minute.According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101, 101′,101 a,b can perform the above stated processing operations at a rate ofat least about 1170 documents per minute. According to some embodiments,the document processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b can perform the abovestated processing operations at any of the above stated rates for theplurality of documents, where the currency bills are U.S. currency billsand the documents are transported with a wide edge leading. According tosome such embodiments, the document processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,bcan perform the above stated processing operations at any of the abovestated rates where the document processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b hasa footprint of less than about two square feet and/or a weight of lessthan about 30 pounds and/or satisfies the other dimensional and weightlimitations mentioned in the present disclosure in connection with thedevice 101′.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices andsystems of the present disclosure are each configured to perform thefollowing processing operations: transport a plurality of documentsincluding, currency bills, personal checks, commercial checks, and fullsheets of letter and/or A4 sized documents, one at a time, past one ormore image scanners, such as image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, scaneach document at a pixel capture rate of at least about twentyMegapixels per second to produce a visually readable image having aresolution of about 200 DPI×100 DPI at a rate of at least about 300documents per minute. According to some embodiments, the documentprocessing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b can perform the above statedprocessing operations at any of the above stated rates where thedocument processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b has a footprint of lessthan about two square feet and/or a weight of less than about 30 pounds.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices andsystems of the present disclosure are each configured to perform thefollowing processing operations: transport a plurality of full sheets ofletter and/or A4 sized documents, one at a time, past one or more imagescanners, such as image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, scan eachdocument at a pixel capture rate of at least about twenty Megapixels persecond to produce a visually readable image having a resolution of about200 DPI×100 DPI at a rate of at least about 300 documents per minute.According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101, 101′,101 a,b can perform the above stated processing operations at any of theabove stated rates where the document processing device 101, 101′, 101a,b has a footprint of less than about two square feet and/or a weightof less than about 30 pounds.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices andsystems of the present disclosure are each configured to receive aplurality of currency bills, transport the currency bills one at a time,past one or more image scanners, scan each currency bill at a pixelcapture rate of at least about twenty Megapixels per second to produceimage data that is reproducible as a visually readable image having aresolution of about 200 DPI×100 DPI of that currency bill, anddenominate each of the currency bills. According to some embodiments,denominating the currency bills includes determining a series of each ofthe currency bills. In these embodiments, the series information can beused to determine a coordinate location of one or more serial numbers inthe visually readable image for the currency bill. According to someembodiments, each currency bill includes two identical serial numbers intwo distinct locations (e.g., upper left corner and lower right corneror upper right corner and lower left corner). According to someembodiments, determining the series of a currency bill reduces theprocessing time needed for the document processing devices and systemsof the present disclosure to locate, crop, deskew, and extract theserial number from the visually readable image Reducing the processingtime to extract the serial number can allow for overall faster documentprocessing. For example, the processing time according to someembodiments can be seventeen milliseconds for each currency bill. Thus,in these embodiments, the document processing devices and systems of thepresent disclosure could process at least about 1200 currency billsevery minute. According to some such embodiments, the documentprocessing devices and systems of the present disclosure each has about17 milliseconds to determine if the currency bill being processed shouldbe flagged by halting or stopping the transportation of the currencybills such that the flagged currency bill is the last currency billpresented in an output receptacle, such as the output receptacle 130 ofthe document processing device 101. According to some embodiments,determining the series of a currency bill can reduce the processing timeneeded for the document processing devices and systems of the presentdisclosure to determine a fitness of a currency bill.

According to some embodiments, international currency bills, such as,for example, the Euro, have varying sizes (e.g., length×widthdimensions) based on denomination. Thus, a coordinate location of one ormore serial numbers on a visually readable image of a Euro currency billwill vary for each of the different Euro denominations. Thus, in theseembodiments, denominating the Euro currency bills provides a coordinatelocation of one or more serial numbers for a particular Eurodenomination, which, as described above, can reduce the processing timefor extracting the serial number.

According to some embodiments, the rate that the document processingdevices and systems of the present disclosure can perform any of theabove stated processing operations within the Document Processing SpeedsSection is a function of a processor clock speed and/or a system clockspeed. According to some embodiments, the processor clock speed is theclock speed of a controller or digital signal processor (DSP), such asthe controller 150 of the document processing device 101. According tosome embodiments, the processor clock speed is a function or weightedaverage of a variety of component clock speeds used to process currencybills and/or checks. For example, the processor clock speed can be aweighted average of a clock speed of the processor, cache memory, SDRAMmemory, and image scanner. According to some embodiments, the documentprocessing devices and systems of the present disclosure each has aratio of the processing operation rate to the processor clock speed oftwo (e.g., processing operation rate/processor clock speed=2). Accordingto some embodiments, the document processing device 101, 101′, 110 a,bhas a ratio of processing operation rate to processor clock speed oftwo. For example, in some embodiments, the processing operation rate isabout 1200 documents/min and the processor clock speed is about 600megahertz (MHz), which is a ratio of two documents/minute per eachmegahertz of clock speed. For another example, the processing operationrate is about 2400 documents/min and the processor clock speed is about1200 megahertz, which is a ratio of two documents/minute per eachmegahertz of clock speed. According to some embodiments, a ten percentincrease in processor clock speed provides about a ten percent increasein document processing speed. For example, for a document processingdevice or system operating at about twenty microseconds to OCR a serialnumber from a visually readable image, a ten percent (10%) increase inthat document processing device or system's clock speed can reduce thetime to process and OCR the serial number from about twenty microsecondsto about eighteen microseconds. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b includes the ratio of twowhile maintaining a footprint of less than about two square feet and/ora weight of less than about 30 pounds and/or satisfies the otherdimensional and weight limitations mentioned in the present disclosurein connection with the device 101′.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices andsystems of the present disclosure can each transport a plurality ofgeneral circulation U.S. currency bills at a rate of at least about 1200currency bills per minute and denominate the plurality of U.S. currencybills with a no-call denomination percentage of less than about 0.01percent. That is, the document processing devices and systems of thepresent disclosure can each accurately call the denomination of U.S.currency bills at least about 9,999 times out of 10,000 generalcirculation U.S. currency bills. Thus, according to some embodiments,the document processing devices and systems of the present disclosureflag a U.S. currency bill as a no-call denomination currency bill lessthan about once out of about every 10,000 U.S. currency bills that areprocessed. According to some embodiments, the document processingdevices and systems of the present disclosure can each transport aplurality of general circulation U.S. currency bills at a rate of atleast about 800 currency bills per minute and denominate the pluralityof U.S. currency bills with a no-call denomination percentage of lessthan about 0.01 percent. According to some embodiments, the documentprocessing devices and systems of the present disclosure can eachtransport a plurality of general circulation U.S. currency bills at arate of at least about 1000 currency bills per minute and denominate theplurality of U.S. currency bills with a no-call denomination percentageof less than about 0.01 percent. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing devices and systems of the present disclosure caneach transport a plurality of general circulation U.S. currency bills ata rate of at least about 1200 currency bills per minute and denominatethe plurality of U.S. currency bills with a no-call denominationpercentage of less than about 0.05 percent. According to someembodiments, the document processing devices and/or systems of thepresent disclosure employ the leading/trailing edge detection techniquesand the forward/reverse denomination algorithms described herein in theDocument Processing Device and System Section to denominate generalcirculation U.S. currency bills with such no-call denomination rates(0.01% and 0.05%).

According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101, thedocument processing device 101′, and the document processing devices 101a,b each have a single input receptacle, such as input receptacle 110′,and a single output receptacle, such as output receptacle 130′. In theseembodiments, the document processing device 101, the document processingdevice 101′, and the document processing devices 101 a,b each has aheight of less than about fourteen inches, a width of less than aboutsixteen inches, and a depth of less than about seventeen inches.According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101, thedocument processing device 101′, and the document processing devices 101a,b each has a footprint of less than two square feet. According to someembodiments, the document processing device 101, the document processingdevice 101′, and the document processing devices 101 a,b each has afootprint of less than one and a half square feet. According to someembodiments, the document processing device 101, the document processingdevice 101′, and the document processing devices 101 a,b each has afootprint of less than one square foot.

According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101, thedocument processing device 101′, and the document processing devices 101a,b each weighs less than about 35 lbs. According to some embodiments,the document processing device 101, the document processing device 101′,and the document processing devices 101 a,b each weighs less than about25 lbs. According to some embodiments, the document processing device101, the document processing device 101′, and the document processingdevices 101 a,b each weighs about twenty lbs. According to someembodiments, the document processing device 101, the document processingdevice 101′, and the document processing devices 101 a,b are eachcompact and adapted to be rested on a tabletop or countertop. Accordingto some embodiments, the document processing device 101, the documentprocessing device 101′, and the document processing devices 101 a,b caneach be a part of a larger document processing device or system such as,for example, systems used for currency bill sorting and/or other typesof document sorting.

It is contemplated that in certain embodiments the device 101, 101′ isconfigured to operate at the various speeds, resolutions, etc. describedin this Section, and in other sections of the present disclosure, and isconfigured to have its operating settings to be automatically and/ormanually adjusted. Thus, according to some embodiments, the resolutionat which images of documents are obtained can be varied depending on thedocument type and/or the type of information desired for extraction fromthe image of the document. For example, a document processing device,similar to the embodiments described in FIGS. 1 and 2A-C and elsewhereherein, is configured to permit the resolution and document processingspeed to be adjusted based on the type of document being imaged.According to some embodiments, the device 101, 101′ automaticallyadjusts the resolution and document processing speed based on the typeof document being imaged. For example, the document processing device isconfigured to detect the type of document in an input receptacle orwithin the transport mechanism. According to some embodiments, acontroller of the device then adjusts the image sensor to obtain animage at a finer resolution to obtain and extract finer features fromthe image of the document, such as, for example, a plate number from acurrency bill, or the controller adjusts the image sensor to a coarserresolution for, for example, a commercial check which can have largercharacter features. According to some embodiments, the document handlingspeed of a transport mechanism for the document processing device isconfigured to simultaneously be adjusted to speed up or slow down toaccount for the different documents types and resolutions. It is alsocontemplated that a user of a document processing device can visuallyidentify the type of document to be imaged and then input the documenttype into the device via an interface (e.g., control panel 170, 170′)configured to receive a document type to be imaged. Based on the user'sidentification of the type of documents to be imaged/processed input tothe device 101, 101′ via the interface, the device 101, 101′automatically adjusts the resolutions and document handling speed forthe imaging and processing of the documents. It is further contemplatedthat according to some embodiments, the device 101, 101′ automaticallyadjusts the document handling speed based on the resolution of adocument. For example, if the desired resolution for a particulardocument increases, the document handling speed is decreased to allowthe higher (i.e., slower) resolution to occur. According to someembodiments, the device 101, 101′ automatically adjusts the documenthandling speed based on the resolution at which a document is to beimaged. For example, according to some embodiments, if it is desired toimage a particular document at a higher resolution, the device 101, 101′is configured to decrease the document handling speed to allow thedocument to be imaged at a higher resolution. Similarly, conversely, ifit is desired to image a particular document at a lower resolution,according to some embodiments, the device 101, 101′ is configured toincrease the document handling speed and image the document at a lowerresolution.

According to some embodiments, a device 101, 101′ has an interface suchas interface 170, 170′ which is configured to allow an operator tomanually adjust the resolution setting among a plurality of settings,for example, high, medium, and low; or 50 DPI×50 DPI, 100 DPI×100 DPI,200 DPI×200 DPI, 400 DPI×400 DPI; or “U.S. currency serial numberextraction,” “U.S. currency small character extraction.” According tosome embodiments, “U.S. currency small character extraction” is aresolution setting sufficient to permit small characters on U.S. bills(e.g., back plate numbers, check letter and quadrant numbers, checkletter and face plate numbers) to be extracted from images of U.S.currency bills. The device 101, 101′ is configured to adjust theresolution based on the resolution setting selected. Furthermore,according to some embodiments, the device 101, 101′ is configured toautomatically adjust the document transport speed based on the selectedresolution setting.

According to some embodiments, a document processing device and/orsystem, such as, for example, the document processing device 101, 101′and/or the document processing system 100 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A-2C, isconfigured to obtain identifying information (e.g., currency bill serialnumber) based on data extracted from image data that is reproducible asvisually readable images of documents. According to some suchembodiments, sometimes a complete serial number cannot be extractedusing one or more OCR algorithms, such as those described above in theOptical Character Recognition Section, and in other sections of thepresent disclosure, when a currency bill has been subjected to wear.According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101, 101′is configured to extract eleven out of eleven serial number characters,from image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of atleast a portion of a general circulation U.S. currency bill, using OCRsoftware with at least about a 98.00% accuracy—that is, on at leastabout 98.00% of the general circulation U.S. currency bills, thedocument processing device 101, 101′ will extract eleven out of elevenserial number characters. According to some embodiments, the documentprocessing device 101, 101′ is configured to extract eleven out ofeleven serial number characters, from image data that is reproducible asa visually readable image of at least a portion of a general circulationU.S. currency bill, using OCR software with at least about a 99.50%accuracy—that is, on at least about 99.50% of the general circulationU.S. currency bills, the document processing device 101, 101′ willextract eleven out of eleven serial number characters. According to someembodiments, the document processing device 101, 101′ is configured toextract ten out of eleven serial number characters, from image data thatis reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of ageneral circulation U.S. currency bill, using OCR software with at leastabout a 99.00% accuracy—that is, on at least about 99.00% of the generalcirculation U.S. currency bills, the document processing device 101,101′ will extract ten out of eleven serial number characters. Accordingto some embodiments, the document processing device 101, 101′ isconfigured to extract ten out of eleven serial number characters, fromimage data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of at leasta portion of a general circulation U.S. currency bill, using OCRsoftware with at least about a 99.50% accuracy—that is, on at leastabout 99.50% of the general circulation U.S. currency bills, thedocument processing device 101, 101′ will extract ten out of elevenserial number characters. According to some embodiments, the documentprocessing device 101, 101′ is configured to extract ten out of elevenserial number characters, from image data that is reproducible as avisually readable image of at least a portion of a general circulationU.S. currency bill, using OCR software with at least about a 99.90%accuracy—that is, on at least about 99.90% of the general circulationU.S. currency bills, the document processing device 101, 101′ willextract ten out of eleven serial number characters.

According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101,101′and/or system 101 is configured to extract characters, such as, forexample, serial number characters, from image data with any of the abovedescribed accuracies at a document processing rate of at least about 100documents per minute. According to some embodiments, the documentprocessing device 101,101′ and/or system 101 is configured to extractcharacters, such as, for example, serial number characters, from imagedata with any of the above described accuracies at a document processingrate of at least about 500 documents per minute. According to someembodiments, the document processing device 101,101′ and/or system 101is configured to extract characters, such as, for example, serial numbercharacters, from image data with any of the above described accuraciesat a document processing rate of at least about 800 documents perminute. According to some embodiments, the document processing device101,101′ and/or system 101 is configured to extract characters, such as,for example, serial number characters, from image data with any of theabove described accuracies at a document processing rate of at leastabout 1000 documents per minute. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing device 101,101′ and/or system 101 is configured toextract characters, such as, for example, serial number characters, fromimage data with any of the above described accuracies at a documentprocessing rate of at least about 1200 documents per minute.

According to some embodiments, in response to an extraction erroroccurring (e.g., an incomplete set of data or characters has beenextracted), such as when extracting a serial number from image data thatis reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of acurrency bill, the currency bill can be flagged to the operator bydisplaying the incomplete extracted serial number character(s) adjacentto the visually readable image (e.g., full currency bill image and/orserial number snippet image), for example, on the control panel 170 ofthe document processing device 101. Additional details and embodimentsassociated with flagging currency bills and checks are described in theModes of Operation—Flagging Section, and in other sections of thepresent disclosure.

Methods of Processing Documents

Now turning to FIG. 5A, a method of processing documents 500 in afinancial institution system, such as the financial institution system103, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.According to some embodiments, the method 500 can also be referred to asa method of reconciling a deposit transaction between a customer (e.g.,a Store, a casino, etc.) and a financial institution (e.g., a Bank). Atblock 502 a data file (e.g., the data file 436) including a plurality ofrecords (e.g., records 300 a-d, 305 a-h) associated with the deposittransaction is received in the financial institution system from acustomer document processing system, such as the customer documentprocessing system 102, over a communications link and/or network, suchas the network 420. As discussed above in reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B,according to some embodiments, the financial institution system caninclude a financial institution or bank document processing system and abanking system, wherein the bank document processing system includes afinancial institution or bank document processing device and a financialinstitution or bank computer.

The data file can be received by the bank document processing device,the bank computer, and/or the banking system. Each of the recordsincluded in the data file can include one or more visually readableimages (e.g., data configured to visually represent one or moredocuments) of a document, such as a currency bill or a check, fordeposit into a customer financial account. According to someembodiments, each the of records includes one or more snippet imagesassociated with a respective document being deposited. For example, asnippet image of a currency bill serial number such as the serial numbersnippet of the currency bill illustrated in the image section 370 asshown in FIG. 3C, or a corner of a currency bill indicating itsdenomination, as shown in FIG. 3D, etc. Each of the records in the datafile is associated with a value (e.g., 10 for a $10 currency bill or 50for a $50 dollar check). According to some embodiments, the bank expectsthe customer to physically deposit a document for each correspondingrecord in the data file. According to other embodiments, the bank onlyexpects to receive a physical document for currency bills thatcorrespond with the records in the data file. In these embodiments, therecords including visually readable images of respective checks aresufficient for further processing (e.g., clearing, proofing, paying,etc.) of the associated check documents. At block 504, according to someembodiments, the financial institution system provisionally credits thecustomer's bank account some amount, such as an amount equal to a sumtotal of the values of the documents associated with the records in thedata file associated with the deposit transaction.

According to some alternative embodiments, the financial institutionsystem provisionally credits the customer's bank account for recordsassociated with currency bills and finally credits the customer's bankaccount for records associated with checks. According to some suchembodiments, the financial institution system holds-off or waits untilthe physical checks and/or the visually readable images of the checksassociated with the deposit transaction are received and processed priorto issuing the final credit for the records associated with checks.According to some other alternative embodiments, the financialinstitution system does not provisionally credit the customer's bankaccount for any of the records included in the data file. Rather, thefinancial institution system holds-off or waits until the physicaldocuments associated with the deposit transaction are received to verifythe records and/or data in the data file against the physical documentsprior to issuing a credit. According to some other alternativeembodiments, the financial institution system provisionally credits thecustomer's bank account for records associated with checks included inthe data file, but not for records associated with currency bills.According to some such embodiments, the financial institution systemholds-off or waits until the physical currency bills associated with thedeposit transaction are received to verify the records associated withcurrency bills against the physical currency bills prior to issuing acredit for the records associated with currency bills.

At block 506 the Bank receives physical documents from the customerassociated with the deposit transaction. The physical documents areassociated with the data file received from the customer over thenetwork. According to some embodiments, each of the physical documentsis associated with one of the records in the data file. According toother embodiments, one or more of the physical documents is notassociated with any of the records in the data file. These documents arecalled unexpected documents because based on the records in the datafile, the Bank was not expecting to receive these physical documentsfrom the customer. According to yet other embodiments, one or more ofthe records in the data file is not associated with any of the physicaldocuments received by the Bank. These documents are called no-showdocuments because based on the records in the data file the Bankexpected to receive corresponding physical documents for each record,but for one reason or another, all of the physical documents were notreceived at the Bank.

At block 508 the financial institution system processes the receivedphysical documents in the bank document processing system to generateinformation, such as a bank data file and/or bank records. Theinformation generated can include one or more visually readable imagesof each physical document, one or more visually readable snippet imagesfor each physical document, identifying information extracted from theimages, and/or transactional information. At block 510, the financialinstitution system compares the generated information, such as the bankrecords, with the records included in the received data file from block502 to determine if any no-show documents 512 are detected. At block510, the financial institution system can also determine if anyunexpected documents are detected. If the financial institution systemdetermines that one or more documents are no-show documents, thenaccording to some embodiments, at block 514, the financial institutionsystem automatically charges-back the customer's bank account an amountequal to a value of the no-show document(s). If the financialinstitution system does not find a no-show document (e.g., each visuallyreadable image in the received data file has a corresponding receivedphysical document), then the method 500 ends at block 515.

According to other embodiments, at block 514 if the financialinstitution system determines or detects one or more no-show documents,then the bank document processing system automatically transmits acharge-back instruction or notice to the banking system. The charge-backinstruction or notice informs one or more financial institutionemployees of the no-show document(s). In some such embodiments, thebanking system 460 can further require operator input from a bankemployee or teller to complete a charge-back or debit of the customer'sbank account for an amount equal to the value of the no-showdocument(s). According to some embodiments, the charge-back instructionis transmitted to an item processing system, such as the item processingsystem described above in reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B. In some suchembodiments, the item processing system is configured to process thecharge-back instruction by debiting the customer's bank account.

According to some embodiments, if the financial institution systemdetermines that one or more documents are unexpected documents, thenaccording to some embodiments, the financial institution systemautomatically credits the customer's bank account an amount equal to avalue of the unexpected document(s). According to other embodiments, ifthe financial institution system determines or detects one or moreunexpected documents, then the bank document processing systemautomatically transmits a credit instruction or notice to the bankingsystem. The credit instruction or notice informs one or more financialinstitution employees of the unexpected document(s). In some suchembodiments, the banking system 460 can further require operator inputfrom a bank employee or teller to complete a credit of the customer'sbank account for an amount equal to the value of the unexpecteddocument(s). According to some embodiments, the credit instruction istransmitted to the item processing system, which is configured toprocess the credit instruction by debiting the customer's bank account.

Now turning to FIG. 5B, an authentication operation 501 of someembodiments of the financial institution system of FIG. 5A is described.The authentication operation 501 can be inserted after block 506 at anyposition in the method 500 of FIG. 5A. At block 516 the bank documentprocessing system also authenticates the received documents. Asdiscussed above in reference to FIG. 1, authentication can includeauthentication by use of the authentication unit 145, which performs oneor more authentication tests, and/or by use of a suspect database bycomparing the identifying information in the records with data in thesuspect database. At block 518 the financial institution systemdetermines if any of the documents are suspect documents. If thefinancial institution system determines one or more of the receivedphysical documents are suspect, then, according to some embodiments, thefinancial institution system automatically charges-back the customerbank account an amount equal to a value of the determined suspectdocument(s) at block 520. If the financial institution system does notdetermine that any documents are suspect (e.g., each document passes theauthentication tests and/or comparison tests), then the method ends atblock 522.

According to other embodiments, at block 520 if the financialinstitution system determines or detects one or more suspect documents,then the bank document processing system automatically transmits acharge-back instruction or suspect notice to the banking system. Thecharge-back instruction or notice informs one or more financialinstitution employees of the suspect document(s). In some suchembodiments, the banking system further requires operator input from abank employee or teller to complete a charge-back or debit of thecustomer's bank account for an amount equal to the value of the suspectdocument(s). According to some embodiments, the charge-back instructionor suspect notice is transmitted to the item processing system, which isconfigured to process the charge-back instruction or suspect notice bydebiting the customer's bank account the amount equal to the value ofthe suspect document(s).

Now turning to FIG. 6, a method of processing documents 600 in afinancial transaction system according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure is shown. At block 602 a bank customer, for example,a Store or a casino, gathers a plurality of physical documentsassociated with a deposit transaction for deposit into the Store's bankaccount at a Bank. At block 604 the Store scans the plurality ofphysical documents using a store document processing system, such asdocument processing system 100, residing at the Store's facility (whichis remotely located relative to the Bank). According to someembodiments, the store document processing system includes a storedocument processing device and/or a store computer, such as the documentprocessing device 101 and the computer 151. The store documentprocessing device is configured to transport the documents one at a timepast an image scanner to generate store or customer records 606. Each ofthe store records can include a visually readable image of a document,identifying information, and/or transactional information. The storerecords associated with the deposit transaction are transmitted to theBank at block 608 to obtain a credit (e.g., a provisional credit and/ora final credit). The store records can be transmitted from the storedocument processing device and/or the store computer communicativelyconnected with or networked with the store document processing device.According to some embodiments, the store records are transmitted fromthe store document processing system to the Bank over a network (e.g.,the internet, LAN, WAN, private network, public network, Ethernet,etc.), such as the network 420. At block 610, the Bank receives thestore records associated with the deposit transaction in a financialinstitution system, such as the financial institution system 103.

According to some embodiments, prior to transmitting the store records,the store document processing system calculates a total deposit valueassociated with all of the physical documents associated with thedeposit transaction. In some embodiments, the store document processingsystem automatically calculates the total deposit value and transmitsthe total deposit value in a virtual deposit slip, as described above inreference to FIGS. 3E and 4A, with the associated store records to thefinancial institution system over the network. According to someembodiments, the store document processing system is configured tocalculate a plurality of additional totals automatically and/or inconjunction with operator input. According to some alternativeembodiments, the store document processing system is configured totransmit a visually readable image of a virtual and/or a preprinteddeposit slip as described above in reference to FIGS. 3E and 4A.

According to some embodiments, the plurality of additional totalsincluded in the virtual and/or preprinted deposit slip include, forexample, a total value of currency bills associated with the deposittransaction, a total value of checks associated with the deposittransaction, and/or a total value of other documents associated with thedeposit transaction. The store document processing system can beconfigured to calculate the total value of each denomination of currencybills associated with the deposit transaction and the quantity of eachdenomination. According to some embodiments, the quantity of checksassociated with the deposit transaction, the total value of on-uschecks, and the total value of transit checks can also be calculated.According to some embodiments, the store document processing device canbe configured to calculate a total number of suspect documents, a totalvalue of suspect currency bills, a number of suspect currency bills, atotal value of suspect checks, and/or a number of suspect checks to betransported to the Bank. According to some embodiments, some or all ofthe above described calculated totals and/or number of each type ofdocument, denomination, check, etc. can be transmitted as a virtualand/or preprinted deposit slip and/or data included in one or more ofthe store records. According to some embodiments, such information canbe used by the Bank to process and/or balance the deposit transactionand/or aid the Bank in preparing its inventory for the followingworkday.

At block 612, the financial institution system calculates a credit(e.g., a provisional credit and/or a final credit) to be applied to theStore's bank account for the deposit transaction. According to someembodiments, the credit is equal to a sum total of values associatedwith the records included in the data file. Alternatively, the creditcan be a percentage of the sum total of values or some other amountbased on a variety of factors. According to other embodiments, thecredit is equal to or a percentage of the total deposit value includedin the deposit slip. At block 614, the bank document processing systemin communication with the banking system automatically credits theStore's bank account for an amount equal to the calculated credit.According to some embodiments, the credit can be provisional and/orfinal. For example, the credit can be provisional for values in recordsassociated with currency bills and final for values associated withchecks. According to some such embodiments, the final credit can bewithheld until the physical checks and/or the visually readable imagesof the checks associated with the deposit transaction are received andfinally processed. According to some other alternative embodiments, thecredit is zero because the financial institution system holds-off orwaits until the physical documents associated with the deposittransaction are received to verify all of the records in the data fileagainst the physical documents prior to issuing a credit. According tosome other alternative embodiments, a provisional credit is only issuedfor values in records associated with checks, but not for recordsassociated with currency bills. According to some such embodiments, thefinancial institution system holds-off or waits until the physicalcurrency bills associated with the deposit transaction are received toverify the records associated with currency bills against the physicalcurrency bills prior to issuing a credit for the records associated withcurrency bills.

According to some embodiments, the bank document processing systemtransmits a credit instruction or notice to the banking system and/or anitem processing system as described above. In some such embodiments,teller software running on the banking system can be configured toreceive the credit instruction and automatically apply a credit to theStore's bank account based on the credit instruction. Alternatively, theteller software running on the banking system can further requireoperator input from a bank employee or teller to complete the credit.Such operator input can include an operator credit command directlyreceived by the banking system and/or the item processing system.

At block 616 the Bank receives a plurality of physical documentsassociated with the deposit transaction. The received plurality ofphysical documents are related to and/or correspond with the pluralityof documents gathered by the Store for the deposit transaction. In someembodiments, the two pluralities of documents are identical. Yet, insome embodiments the two pluralities of documents are slightlydifferent. For example, in some embodiments, the plurality of physicaldocuments received at the Bank includes one or more additionaldocuments, that is, unexpected documents. For another example, theplurality of physical documents received at the Bank is missing one ormore documents, that is, no-show documents. For yet another example, theplurality of documents received at the Bank includes one or moreunexpected document(s) and one or more no-show document(s).

At block 618 the plurality of physical documents received at the Bankfor the deposit transaction are scanned using the bank documentprocessing device to generate bank records and/or a bank data files 620associated with the deposit transaction. Each one of the bank recordscan include a respective visually readable image of one of the pluralityof physical documents, identifying information, and/or transactionalinformation. At block 622 the financial institution system compares thebank records with the store records to determine if there are anyno-show documents 624 and/or to determine if there are any unexpecteddocuments. According to some embodiments, if the financial institutionsystem determines there are one or more no-show documents, then the bankdocument processing system in communication with the banking systemautomatically charges-back the Store's bank account 626 an amount equalto a value of the no-show document(s).

According to some embodiments, if the financial institution systemdetermines there are one or more no-show documents, then the bankdocument processing system automatically transmits a charge-backinstruction or notice to the banking system and/or the item processingsystem. In some such embodiments, teller software running on the bankingsystem can be configured to receive the charge-back instruction andautomatically apply a charge-back or debit to the Store's bank accountbased on the charge-back instruction. Alternatively, the teller softwarerunning on the banking system can further require operator input from abank employee or teller to complete the charge-back. Such operator inputcan include an operator charge-back command directly received by thebanking system. According to some embodiments, the charge-backinstruction is transmitted to the item processing system to process thecharge-back instruction by debiting the customer's bank account.

According to some embodiments, if the financial institution systemdetermines that one or more documents are unexpected documents, thenaccording to some embodiments, the financial institution systemautomatically credits the customer's bank account an amount equal to avalue of the unexpected document(s). According to other embodiments, ifthe financial institution system determines or detects one or moreunexpected documents, then the bank document processing systemautomatically transmits a credit instruction or notice to the bankingsystem and/or the item processing system. In some such embodiments, thebanking system 460 can further require operator input from a bankemployee or teller to complete a credit of the customer's bank accountfor an amount equal to the value of the unexpected document(s).According to some such embodiments, the credit instruction istransmitted to the item processing system, which is configured toprocess the credit instruction by debiting the customer's bank account.

After the charge-back 626 or if the financial institution system failsto determine a no-show document, the bank document processing systemauthenticates the received plurality of physical documents at block 628.As discussed above, authentication can include authentication by use ofan authentication unit 145 and/or by use of a suspect database bycomparing the identifying information in the records with data in thesuspect database. According to some embodiments, at block 630, if thebank document processing system determines that one or more of thereceived documents are suspect, then the financial institution systemautomatically charges-back the customer bank account an amount equal toa value of the suspect document at block 632. If no documents aredetermined to be suspect (e.g., each document passes the tests of theauthentication unit and/or comparison tests), then the method ends atblock 634.

According to some embodiments, if the bank document processing systemdetects or determines a suspect document, then the bank documentprocessing system automatically transmits a charge-back instruction ornotice to the banking system. In some such embodiments, teller softwarerunning on the banking system can be configured to receive thecharge-back instruction and automatically apply a charge-back or debitto the Store's bank account based on the charge-back instruction for thedetermined suspect document(s). Alternatively, the teller softwarerunning on the banking system can further require operator input from abank employee or teller to complete the charge-back for the suspectdocument(s). Such operator input can include an operator charge-backcommand directly received by the banking system. According to someembodiments, the charge-back instruction or suspect notice istransmitted to the item processing system, which is configured toprocess the charge-back instruction or notice by debiting the customer'sbank account the amount equal to the value of the suspect document(s).

Now turning to FIG. 7A, a method of processing documents 700 in afinancial institution system according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure is shown. At block 702, a financial institutionsystem including a bank document processing system and a banking system,receives a data file (e.g., data file 301) including a plurality ofrecords (e.g., records 300 a-d, 305 a-h) or customer records associatedwith a deposit transaction over a network from a customer, for example,a Store or a casino. According to some embodiments, the bank documentprocessing system includes a bank document processing device and a bankcomputer communicatively connected thereto. According to otherembodiments, the bank document processing system includes a bankdocument processing device.

Each of the records in the data file includes identifying information(e.g., a serial number, MICR characters) associated with a document suchas, for example, a currency bill and/or a check. In some embodiments,each of the records includes a visually readable image of a document,one or more visually readable snippet images, or both. According to someembodiments, each record further includes a value, wherein the valuecorresponds to the respective visually readable image included in thesame record. At block 704, according to some embodiments, the financialinstitution system compares the records against suspect database recordsto determine if one or more of the records is associated with a suspectrecord and/or a suspect document. According to some such embodiments,the financial institution system compares identifying informationincluded in each record against data or information included in asuspect database. If the financial institution system determines thatthe identifying information included in one of the records matches orcorresponds with data in the suspect database at block 706, then thebank document processing system (e.g., financial institution system 103)automatically transmits a notice to the Store (e.g., customer documentprocessing system 102) at block 708, such as through network 420 shownin FIG. 4A. The notice may be called a suspect notice, a fraud notice, acharge-back notice, etc. The notice can be transmitted over the networkto a Store document processing system, a Store document processingdevice, and/or a Store computer. According to some embodiments, thenotice is made electronically available to the customer such that thecustomer can retrieve the notice if and/or when desired. According tosome embodiments, the notice can include the record that matched thesuspect record, information or data contained in the record, such as,identifying information, a visually readable image or a snippet image,etc., a deposit transaction identifier or a unique identifier, or anycombination thereof. According to some embodiments, the notice istransmitted or otherwise made available to one or more third parties viaa communicatively connected computer configured to store notices and/orrelated information. For example, the notices can be transmitted to theU.S. Federal Reserve and/or U.S. Secret Service for tracking purposes.If none of the identifying information associated with the recordsmatches data or information in the suspect database at block 706, thenthe method 700 ends at block 710.

Now turning to FIG. 7B, a credit operation 701 of some embodiments ofthe financial institution system of FIG. 7A is described. The creditoperation 701 can be inserted after block 708 in the method 700 of FIG.7A. At block 712, the financial institution system including the bankdocument processing system and the banking system, calculates a creditamount associated with the deposit transaction. According to someembodiments, the data file includes a virtual deposit slip and/or avisually readable image of a deposit slip, such as a preprinted depositslip. In some such embodiments, the deposit slip includes one or morevalues, such as a total declared deposit value. According to someembodiments, the total declared value equals a sum of the valuesincluded in each record associated with the deposit transaction.According to some embodiments, the calculated credit is equal to thedeclared deposit amount included on the deposit slip. Alternatively, thecalculated credit can be a percentage of and/or based on the declareddeposit amount. According to some embodiments, the calculated credit isequal to the declared deposit amount minus the value included in anyrecord determined to be associated with a suspect record and/or asuspect document. At block 714, according to some embodiments, thefinancial institution system automatically credits the Store's bankaccount for the calculated credit amount. After crediting the Store'sbank account, the credit operation 701 ends at block 716.

According to some embodiments, at block 714, the bank documentprocessing system automatically transmits a credit instruction or noticeto the banking system and/or an item processing system. The creditinstruction includes sufficient information or data to permit thebanking system to appropriately credit the customer's bank account. Forexample, the credit instruction can include the data file, one or moreof the records in the data file, the deposit slip or a visually readableimage if the deposit slip, information regarding the deposittransaction, such as a transaction identifier, etc. In some suchembodiments, teller software running on the banking system can beconfigured to receive the credit instruction and automatically apply acredit (e.g., a provisional credit and/or a final credit) to thecustomer's bank account based on the credit instruction. Alternatively,teller software running on the banking system can further requireoperator input from a bank employee or teller to complete the credit.Such operator input can include an operator credit command directlyreceived by the banking system. According to some embodiments, thecredit instruction is transmitted to an item processing system, such asthe item processing system described above in reference to FIGS. 4A and4B. In some such embodiments, the item processing system is configuredto process the credit instruction by crediting the customer's bankaccount.

Now turning to FIGS. 8A and 8B, a method 800 of processing documents ina financial transaction system, such as the financial transaction system50, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.The financial transaction system includes a customer document processingsystem, such as the customer document processing system 102, a financialinstitution system, such as the financial institution system 103, and anetwork, such as the network 420. According to some embodiments, thecustomer document processing system includes a customer computer (e.g.,the first computer 450 a) and/or a customer document processing device(e.g., the document processing device 101 a). According to someembodiments, the financial institution system includes a financialinstitution or bank document processing system and a banking systemand/or accounting system (e.g., the banking system 460). According tosome embodiments, the bank document processing system includes a bankdocument processing device (e.g., the bank document processing device101 b) communicatively connected to a bank computer (e.g., the bankcomputer 450 b). According to some embodiments, the customer documentprocessing system and the financial institution system are locatedremotely from each other, such as, for example, being in differentbuildings, different states, different countries, etc.

At block 802, a plurality of documents associated with a deposittransaction for deposit at a financial institution (e.g., the Bank) areprocessed by the customer document processing device at the Store. Atblock 804, a customer data file (e.g., the data file 436) associatedwith the deposit transaction is generated using the customer documentprocessing system. The customer data file includes a plurality ofcustomer records (e.g., the records 300 a-d, 305 a-h), wherein eachcustomer record is associated with one of the documents. According tosome embodiments, each of the customer records includes one or morevisually readable images and/or visually readable snippet images and/oridentifying information, such as described above in reference to FIGS.3A-E. At block 806, the customer data file is transmitted from thecustomer document processing system over the network to the financialinstitution system 808 in a similar manner as described above inrelation to FIGS. 4A and 7A. The customer data file is received and/orstored in a memory of the financial institution system, the bankcomputer, the banking system, and/or in an item processing system, whichis communicatively connected to and/or resides within the bankingsystem.

According to some embodiments, the financial institution systemprocesses the received customer data file and determines which of theincluded customer records are associated with currency bills and whichare associated with checks. For example, at block 810, the financialinstitution system determines if a current or specific customer recordis associated with a currency bill. If the customer record is associatedwith a currency bill, then, at block 812, the financial institutionsystem compares a serial number of the currency bill, that is includedin the current customer record, against a suspect serial numberdatabase. The suspect serial number database can include a list ofserial numbers known to be associated with counterfeit currency billsand/or other related information. According to some embodiments, arecord including a serial number that matches one of the serial numbersin the suspect serial number database is referred to a suspect record.

If the financial institution system determines that the serial number ofthe currency bill matches one of the serial numbers in the suspectserial number database at block 814, then the financial institutionsystem can automatically transmit a suspect notice to the Store at block816, such as the notice described above in reference to FIG. 7A. Thatis, the financial institution system determined that one of theplurality of customer records is a suspect record and transmitted anotice to the customer to inform the customer of that determination.According to some embodiments, the bank document processing systemand/or the banking system can be configured to transmit the suspectnotice over the network to the customer document processing system.According to some embodiments, the suspect notice at least indicates tothe Store that the financial institution system determined that thecurrency bill to be deposited is a suspect currency bill and that nocredit will be applied to the Store's bank account for the currencybill. According to some embodiments, the financial institution systemmay only send suspect notices to the Store on a batch basis. Forexample, if the financial institution system determines a data fileassociated with a deposit transaction includes two or more records thatare suspect records, then the financial institution system can beconfigured to send a single notice to the Store that indicates thedetermination of the two or more suspect records for the deposittransaction as described above.

According to some embodiment, in response to the financial institutionsystem determining that a customer record is associated with a suspectcurrency bill, the financial institution system flags the currentcustomer record as suspect at block 818. For example, the flagging caninclude visually marking an image of the currency bill determined to besuspect (e.g., overlaying graphics) in the customer record or otherwiseindicating digitally, visually, or both that the customer record isassociated with a suspect currency bill, such as, for example, byincluding a suspect notation or indication in an associated data fieldin the customer record. According to some embodiments, the currentcustomer record is stored in the bank computer. Thus, according to someembodiments, flagged records can be stored in a memory of the bankcomputer. According to some embodiments, flagged records can betransmitted from the bank computer to any device or system within thefinancial institution system for processing and/or storage. If thefinancial institution system determines that the serial number of thecurrency bill does not match one of the serial numbers in the suspectserial number database at block 814 or after flagging a suspect customerrecord at block 818, the financial institution system determines ifthere are any more customer records in the customer data file associatedwith the deposit transaction at block 815. If there is another customerrecord, then the financial institution system determines if the nextcustomer record is associated with a currency bill at block 810.

If the financial institution system determines that the next current orspecific customer record is not associated with a currency bill at block810, then at block 820, the financial institution system determines ifthe customer record is associated with a check. If the current customerrecord is associated with a check, then, at block 822, the financialinstitution system compares identifying information included in thecustomer record against data and/or information included in a suspectdatabase. The identifying information can include a check accountnumber, a check routing number, a check number, a drawer name, a draweename, an endorser name, an address, a payee name, a legal amount, acourtesy amount, etc. The data included in the suspect database cancorrespond to any one of or any combination of the aforementionedidentifying information included in the customer record. For example,the suspect database can include checking account numbers, routingnumbers, and/or drawer names known to be tied to checking accountsassociated with fraudulent activity. According to some embodiments, ifthe financial institution system determines that the identifyinginformation included in the current record matches some of the data inthe suspect database at block 824, then the financial institution systemautomatically transmits a fraud notice to the Store at block 826.According to some embodiments, the fraud notice at least indicates tothe Store that the financial institution system determined that thecheck to be deposited is associated with fraudulent activity and nocredit will be applied to the Store's bank account for the check.

According to some embodiment, in response to the financial institutionsystem determining that a customer record is associated with a suspectcheck, the financial institution system flags the customer record assuspect or fraudulent at block 828 in the same or similar manner asdescribed above. For example, the flagging can include visually markingan image of the check determined to be suspect (e.g., overlayinggraphics) in the customer record or otherwise indicating digitally,visually, or both that the customer record is associated with a suspectcheck, such as, for example, by including a suspect notation orindication in an associated data field in the current record. Accordingto some embodiments, the current record is stored in the bank computer.Thus, according to some embodiments, flagged records can be stored in amemory of the bank computer. According to some embodiments, flaggedrecords can be transmitted from the bank computer to any device orsystem within the financial institution system for processing and/orstorage.

If the financial institution system (1) determines that the currentrecord is not associated with a check at block 820; (2) determines thatthe identifying information included in the currency record does notmatch data in the suspect database at block 824; or (3) after flagging asuspect customer record at block 828, then the financial institutionsystem determines if there are any more customer records in the customerdata file associated with the deposit transaction at block 815. If thereis another customer record, then the financial institution systemdetermines if the next current customer record is associated with acurrency bill at block 810. If there are not anymore customer records,then the financial institution system calculates a deposit transactioncredit amount at block 830.

According to some embodiments, the customer data file includes a depositslip, such as the deposit slip described above, which at least includesa total declared deposit amount. According to some such embodiments, thedeposit transaction credit amount is based on the total declared depositamount. According to some embodiments, the deposit transaction creditamount is based on a sum of the values included in the customer recordsassociated with the deposit transaction. According to some embodiments,the total declared deposit value equals the sum of the values includedin the customer records, such as, when the deposit transaction is notassociated with any suspect documents, any no-show documents, and/or anyunexpected documents. In the case of a suspect document, a no-showdocument, and/or an unexpected document being included in the deposittransaction, values associated with each of such documents are includedin the calculation of the credit amount. For example, the valueassociated with a suspect document and the value associated with ano-show document can each be subtracted from the total declared depositamount and the value associated with an unexpected document can be addedto the total declared deposit amount when calculating the deposittransaction credit amount.

For example, a deposit transaction includes a single data file thatincludes 100 records, where each record includes a value associated witha currency bill or a check to be deposited in to a bank account for acredit. The data file also includes a deposit slip that has a totaldeclared deposit amount of $1000.00. If the sum of the values includedin the records balances with the total declared deposit amount (e.g., abanking system and/or an item processing system determines that thetotal declared deposit amount is correct and does not need anyoffsetting credits and/or debits) and if one of the documents associatedwith the deposit transaction is a suspect check having a value of$250.00 and one of the documents associated with the deposit transactionis a no-show currency bill having a value of $50.00 and one of thedocuments associated with the deposit transaction is an unexpectedcurrency bill having a value of $100.00, then the calculated credit is$1000.00−$250−$50.00+$100.00=$800.00. That is, the values of the suspectcheck and the no-show currency bill are subtracted and the value of theunexpected currency bill is added to the declared deposit amount tobalance the deposit transaction.

According to some embodiments, the financial institution systemautomatically credits the Store's bank account in an amount equal to ora percentage of the calculated deposit transaction credit amount atblock 832. According to other embodiments, the bank document processingsystem transmits a credit instruction or notice to the banking system.In some such embodiments, the banking system receives the creditinstruction and automatically credits the Store's bank account based onthe credit instruction. In other embodiments, the banking systemrequires additional operator input prior to crediting the Store's bankaccount. According to some embodiments, the financial institution systemcan credit the Store's bank account upon intervention by bank personnel,such as, by bank personnel providing a credit approval instruction tothe banking system and/or teller software. According to someembodiments, the credit can be provisional and/or final. For example,the credit can be provisional for values in records associated withcurrency bills and final for values associated with checks. According tosome embodiments, the credit instruction is transmitted to an itemprocessing system, such as the item processing system described above inreference to FIGS. 4A and 4B. In some such embodiments, the itemprocessing system is configured to process the credit instruction bycrediting the customer's bank account.

At block 834 the flagged records are transmitted to and/or stored in amemory of the bank document processing system. At block 836 the bankdocument processing system receives a plurality of physical documentsassociated with the deposit transaction and processes the documents atblock 838. The bank document processing system is configured todetermine if a current one of the received documents is associated withone or more flagged records at block 840 by comparing records generatedfrom the processed documents with the flagged records stored in thememory of the bank document processing system. If the bank documentprocessing system finds a match, the corresponding document can beflagged such as by off-sorting the flagged document. Alternatively oradditionally, the bank document processing system can flag thecorresponding document by halting or stopping the transportation ofdocuments and present the matching document (e.g., such as according tothe stop-and-present mode of operation discussed herein) in an outputreceptacle of the bank document processing device for review by bankpersonnel such as the operator of the bank document processing system atblock 842. According to some such embodiments, the document processingsystem can be configured to resume operation and/or transportation ofadditional documents after the flagged document has been handled such asby an operator of the bank document processing system such as byremoving the flagged document from the output receptacle. After findinga match, the bank document processing system determines if there are anymore documents associated with the deposit transaction to process atblock 843. If there is another document, the bank document processingsystem determines if a next current received document is associated withone or more flagged records at block 840. If the bank documentprocessing system does not match the document with a flagged record thenthe bank document processing system determines if there are any moredocuments associated with the deposit transaction to process at block843. If no more documents are present, then the method ends at block844.

Modes of Operation—Flagging

The document processing devices 101, 101′ and the document processingdevices 101 a,b may be selectively programmed to operate in any ofseveral operating modes and/or detect a plurality of error conditions asdescribed in more detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,819, which is herebyincorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Additionally asdescribed in more detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,819, the documentprocessing devices 101, 101′ and the document processing devices 101 a,bmay have set-up software designed to enable the operator to customizevarious operating parameters and engage or disengage various features ofthe discrimination system. The operating parameters may include, forexample, default settings, stopping conditions, off-sort modes, pocketsettings, denomination keys, stranger records or communications portsettings. For example, a set-up mode may permit the user to identifywhich pocket is to receive no-calls, suspect documents, mis-faced andmis-oriented documents, strangers, denomination changes, doubles, andchains or other bills or documents causing other types of minor or majorerrors. This information may be retrieved from the user via a routinginterface having a data retrieval device such as a touch-screen.Alternatively, the data retrieval device may be some other kind of inputor input/output device such as a keypad, buttons, or switches. Likewise,the set-up mode may permit the user to define which pockets are toreceive which kinds of documents and whether the system should stop uponthe occurrence of various events, for example, various minor errors.Information concerning whether the system should stop upon theoccurrence of one or more of the above conditions may be retrieved fromthe user via a flagging control interface having a flagging dataretrieval device such as a touch-screen. Alternatively, the flaggingdata retrieval device may be some other kind of input or input/outputdevice such as a keypad, buttons, or switches. The flagging controlinterface may be combined with the routing interface. Likewise the sametouch-screen or input device may be used both to retrieve dataconcerning to which pockets various bills are to be directed as well aswhether the system should stop upon the occurrence of one or more eventssuch as the occurrence of one or more types of minor errors. Thefeatures of the discrimination system which may be engaged or disengagedin the set-up mode include operating modes, operating keys, subbatching,suspect document authentication tests, stranger records, separate seriesdiscrimination, and/or audio alarms.

As described above, according to embodiments of the present disclosure,the system permits the user or operator to customize the operation ofthe machine in a number of ways. For example, the user may be permittedto designate into which pocket or output receptacle certain bills aredelivered and whether the machine should stop, for example, deliver anyno calls into pocket number two and stop the machine after each no callis delivered to pocket number two. Additional examples of how the usermay customize a system according to the present disclosure are describedin connection with FIGS. 35-40 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,819 and FIG. 10 ofthe present disclosure. FIGS. 35-40 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,819 and FIG.10 of the present disclosure illustrate examples of displays designed toaid the operator in tailoring the operation of the machine according tothe operator's preferences. These figures illustrate displays that maybe used to aid in retrieval of routing and flagging information from auser such as via a routing interface having a data retrieval device suchas a touch-screen. Alternatively, the data retrieval device may be someother kind of input or input/output device such as a keypad.Additionally or alternatively, information concerning whether the systemshould stop upon the occurrence of one or more conditions may beretrieved from the user via a flagging control interface having aflagging data retrieval device such as a touch-screen. Alternatively,the flagging data retrieval device may be some other kind of input orinput/output device such as a keypad. The flagging control interface maybe combined with the routing interface into a single interface system.

Additionally, for strangers, strap limits, denomination changes, andseparate series, the operator is also given the option of having thetransport mechanism stopped with the flagged bill being maintainedwithin the transport mechanism (ST) as described in connection with U.S.Pat. No. 6,311,819.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices and/orsystems of the present disclosure include a stranger record feature orstranger record mode. In response to the stranger record mode being ON,the device is configured to count strangers in a batch total. Inresponse to the stranger record mode being OFF, the device is configuredto not count strangers in a batch total. For example, a device processesa strap that supposedly includes one hundred U.S. five dollar bills. Infact, the strap includes ninety-nine U.S. five dollar bills and one U.S.twenty dollar bill. In response to the stranger record mode being ON,the device will return a strap amount of $515 (99×$5+1×$20). In responseto the stranger record mode being OFF, the device will return a strapamount of $495 (99×$5).

According to some embodiments, a document processing device of thepresent disclosure flags documents and transports the flagged documentsto an escrow holding receptacle. According to some embodiments, theescrowed documents can be re-run in the document processing device at aslower transporting speed and/or at a higher resolution. Additionally oralternatively, the escrowed documents can be re-run in the documentprocessing device using different and/or more advanced OCR algorithms,denomination algorithms, etc. According to some embodiments, the escrowholding receptacle is a mid-stream holding area positioned adjacent atransport path of the document processing device and between an inputreceptacle and one or more output receptacles.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices 101, 101′and the document processing devices 101 a,b are each configured topermit an operator to choose to flag one or more types of errorconditions according to a stop-and-present mode of operation, arun-and-present mode of operation, a tag only mode of operation, or acombination thereof. The following discussion regarding flagging ofdocuments is described in reference to the document processing device101; however, it is understood that the same description applies to thedocument processing device 101′ and/or the document processing devices101 a,b, 400. According to some embodiments, the term “flagging” refersto the document processing device 101 recording or making an indicationthat a document has been flagged and/or causing a flagged documentand/or image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of aflagged document to be handled differently than documents and/orvisually readable images of documents which have not been flagged. Forexample, according to some embodiments, the document processing deviceis configured to communicate the detection of a flagged document such asby alerting and/or notifying an operator of the document processingdevice 101 that a document satisfying one or more flag criteria has beendetected. According to some embodiments, the document processing deviceis configured to notify an operator in real time that a flagged documenthas been detected via presentation of a visually readable image of aflagged document and/or a flag code on a display or input/output devicesuch as the control panel 170 of the document processing device 101and/or on a display remote from the document processing device (e.g., adisplay of a communicatively connected computer in a different roomand/or location). According to other embodiments, the documentprocessing device is configured, alternatively or additionally, to stopthe transport mechanism 120 of the document processing device 101 inreal time when a flagged document is detected and to physically presentthe flagged document in an output receptacle, such as output receptacle130. According to some embodiments, the document processing device isconfigured, alternatively or additionally, to tag a data file or record(e.g., the data file 301 or the records 300 a-d, 305 a-h) associatedwith the flagged document such as by causing an appropriate flag code orother notation or marking to be tagged to and/or stored within a datafile or record such as described above in reference to FIGS. 3A-E. Forexample, the document processing device may insert an appropriate codein flag code field 333′ or 363′.

According to some embodiments, the document processing device includes atemporary holding area for receiving no call bills. According to somesuch embodiments, no call bills are held in the temporary holding areauntil an operator calls the denomination of the no call bills in thesame, or similar, manner as described herein in connection with FIGS. 9Aand 9B. According to some embodiments, in response to the operatorcalling the denomination of a bill in the temporary holding area, thetransport mechanism transports the bill from the temporary holding areato an output receptacle of the document processing device.

According to some embodiments, the flag criteria can include, but arenot limited to, a no-call denomination criterion (described in referenceto FIGS. 9A and 9B), an extraction error-currency bill criterion such asa serial number extraction error criterion (described in reference toFIGS. 9C and 9D), an extraction error-check criterion such as a MICRline extraction error criterion, a suspect criterion (such as describedin reference to FIGS. 11A and 11B in the Modes of Operation—BlacklistSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure), a doublescriterion, a stranger criterion, an overlap criterion, a fitnesscriterion, a soil criterion, and/or a serial number location criterion.Thus, according to some embodiments, satisfaction of one of these flagcriteria can cause the document processing system 100 and/or device 101to flag a document (e.g., currency bill, check) according to thestop-and-present mode of operation, the run-and-present mode ofoperation, or the tag only mode of operation.

According to some embodiments, documents that cannot be denominated witha predetermined level of confidence satisfy the no-call denominationcriterion and can be flagged as a no-call error. According to someembodiments, currency bills with serial numbers that cannot becompletely extracted with a predetermined level of confidence and/orcurrency bills with serial numbers in which an insufficient number ofserial number characters can be extracted with a predetermined level ofconfidence (e.g., 9 or more of 11 serial number characters) satisfy theserial number extraction error criterion and can be flagged as a dataextraction error. According to some embodiments, checks with MICR linesthat cannot be completely extracted with a predetermined level ofconfidence and/or checks with MICR lines in which an insufficient numberof MICR characters can be extracted with a predetermined level ofconfidence (e.g., 40 or more of 45 MICR characters) satisfy the MICRline extraction error criterion and can be flagged as a data extractionerror. According to some embodiments, documents determined to be suspectsatisfy the suspect error criterion and can be flagged as a suspectdocument. According to some embodiments, two or more documents stackeddocuments being transported on top of each other satisfy the doublescriterion and can be flagged as a doubles error. According to someembodiments, a document having a different denomination in a stack ofdocuments expected to all have the same denomination satisfies thestranger criterion and can be flagged as a stranger. According to someembodiments, a document overlapping another document during transportsatisfies the overlap criterion and can be flagged as an overlap error.According to some embodiments, the overlap criterion can be referred toas a chain error criterion. According to some embodiments, a documentthat fails a fitness test satisfies the fitness criterion and can beflagged as an unfit document. According to some embodiments, a documentthat fails a soil test satisfies the soil criterion and can be flaggedas a soiled document. According to some embodiments, currency bills withserial numbers that cannot be located during OCR satisfy the serialnumber location criterion and can be flagged as a serial number locationerror. According to some embodiments, a one-half document satisfies thehalf-document criterion and can be flagged as a half document error.According to some such embodiments, one-half documents can be counted aslegal tender. Alternatively, the document processing device can beconfigured to not count one-half documents.

According to some embodiments, a flag code is associated with a reasonthat a document was flagged. For example, for a document satisfying theno-call denomination criterion, the flag code can be “no-calldenomination,” which can be displayed adjacent to the visually readableimage of the flagged document. For another example, for a documentsatisfying the extraction error-currency bill criterion, the flag codecan be “extraction error” or “extraction error-currency bill.”

According to some embodiments, a processor or controller, such ascontroller 150 of the document processing device 101, flags a documentaccording to a stop-and-present mode orstop-and-present-physical-document mode by stopping or halting thetransport mechanism 120 after the flagged document has been transportedand delivered into an output receptacle, such as the output receptacle130, that is, the flagged document is delivered to an output receptacleand the transport mechanism is stopped. According to some embodiments,the transport mechanism is stopped before documents following theflagged bill are transported into the output receptacle such that theflagged document is the last document transported into the outputreceptacle when the transport mechanism stops. According to someembodiments, a processor/controller, such as the controller 150, isconfigured to cause at least a portion of a visually readable image ofthe flagged document to be displayed on a display, such as the controlpanel 170 or other display device communicatively connected to thedocument processing system 100, as shown in FIGS. 9A-E.

According to some embodiments, a processor or controller of the documentprocessing system flags a document according to a run-and-present modeor run-and-present-image mode by displaying at least a portion of avisually readable image of the flagged document on a display, such asthe control panel 170 or other display device communicatively connectedto the document processing system 100, without halting the transportmechanism 120 in response to the detection of the flagged document.Accordingly, in some embodiments of the run-and-present mode, thedocument processing system is configured to display at least a portionof a visually readable image of a flagged document on a display whilesimultaneously continuing the operation of the transport mechanism 120allowing the document processing system to continue transporting andprocessing other documents from the input receptacle 110. That is, thetransport mechanism 120 does not stop transporting documents upon thedetection of a flagged document. According to some embodiments, flaggingaccording to a run-and-present mode can increase document processingefficiency by minimizing and/or reducing the amount of time that thedocument processing system 100 is not transporting and/or processingdocuments. When a flagged document is detected, a visually readableimage associated with the document is displayed on a display while thedocument processing system continues to process and transport subsequentdocuments.

Alternatively, according to some embodiments of the run-and-presentmode, the transport mechanism 120 does not stop transporting documentsupon the detection of a flagged document, but the document processingsystem does not display images associated with flagged documents untilthe document processing system has no more documents to process and hasstopped for that reason. In such alternative embodiments, a stack ofdocuments are placed in the input receptacle of the document processingsystem and the system transports all the documents in the stack to theone or more output receptacles of the system. Having no more documentsto transport, the operation of the transport mechanism is suspended andthe images associated with any flagged documents encountered in thestack are then displayed on a display, such as the control panel 170 ofthe document processing device 101.

According to some embodiments, when multiple flagged documents aredetected within a batch and/or stack of documents being processed by adocument processing system or device, visually readable imagesassociated with the flagged documents are queued in a buffer or memoryfor sequential display on the display and/or the system may beconfigured to display visually readable images associated with multipleflagged documents simultaneously on the display. For example, themultiple flagged documents can be displayed as an array of thumbnailimages.

According to some embodiments, a processor/controller such as thecontroller 150 of the document processing system 100 flags a documentaccording to the tag only mode by tagging a data file or recordassociated with the flagged document such as by causing an appropriateflag code or other notation or marking to be tagged to and/or storedwithin a data file or record associated with the flagged document.Otherwise the document processing system continues to process subsequentdocuments and does not either halt the transport mechanism or display inreal time a visually readable image associated with the flaggeddocument. For example, when processing a plurality of currency billsusing the document processing system 100 an operator might not desire tobe notified in real time of each document and/or visually readable imageof the document that satisfies a soil criterion. When a documentsatisfying a soil criteria is detected, the record or data fileassociated with that document may be tagged as described above such asby entering an appropriate indication in the record or data file such asby setting a soiled bit in a flag code field. By storing suchinformation in the records or data files of documents, the records ordata files can be later utilized as described elsewhere in the presentdisclosure. For example, the records or data files can be later searchedfor documents satisfying various criteria. Additionally oralternatively, previously processed documents can be re-run on the sameor different document processing systems or devices which are configuredto cull out (e.g., off-sort) documents based on information previouslystored in the document records or data files.

According to some embodiments, data files or records associated withflagged documents may be tagged in a run-and-present mode and/or astop-and-present mode in a manner similar to the tag only mode. Forexample, when a flagged document is detected, an appropriate flag codemay be written into a data file or record associated with the flaggeddocument and the document processing system can monitor the contents ofone or more flag fields associated with the documents it is processingto decide how to handle each document. For example, if a suspect code orflag is associated with the data file or record for a document, thedocument processing system can handle the document according to how thesystem has been configured to handle suspect documents.

The above modes can be utilized with document processing systems anddevices of the present disclosure having a single output receptacle or aplurality of output receptacles. When utilized with document processingsystems and devices having a plurality of output receptacles, thedocument processing systems and devices can be configured toadditionally sort documents into the plurality of output receptaclesbased on a variety of criteria including flagging criteria. For example,in a run-and-present mode or a tag only mode, the document processingsystem may be configured to off-sort or route a particular type offlagged document to a particular output receptacle while the documentprocessing system continues to process subsequent documents withouthalting the transport mechanism. In a stop-and-present mode, thedocument processing system may be configured to off-sort or route aparticular type of flagged document to a particular output receptacleand then halt the transport mechanism. Additional details aboutflagging, sorting, flagging interfaces, and routing interfaces can befound in U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,819, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

According to some embodiments, in response to the document processingdevices and/or systems of the present disclosure determining that adocument fails a fitness criterion (e.g., an unfit bill)—that is, forexample, a device determines that a document is unfit—the device and/orsystem is configured to flag the document according to thestop-and-present mode of operation. That is, the device/system displaysa visually readable image of the unfit bill on, for example, the controlpanel 170 or other display device communicatively connected to thedocument processing system 100, and stops the transportation ofdocuments such that the unfit bill is located at a predeterminedlocation such as the last bill delivered to the output receptacle.According to some embodiments, in response to receiving a fitnessdetermination (confirmation or rejection) input from an operator toeither confirm or reject the device's fitness determination of the unfitbill, the device is configured to restart and/or resume thetransportation of documents. According to some embodiments, prior toresuming operation, the device/system prompts the operator to remove thedocument from the output receptacle if the operator indicated thathe/she agreed with the device's unfit determination.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system isconfigured to display at least a portion of a visually readable image ofselect-types of flagged documents on a display while simultaneouslycontinuing the operation of the transport mechanism 120 allowing thedocument processing system to continue transporting and processing otherdocuments from the input receptacle 110. According to some suchembodiments, the unselected-types of flagged documents are flaggedaccording to the stop-and-present mode. Such flagging of select-types offlagged documents according to the run-and-present mode and flagging ofunselected-types of flagged documents according to the stop-and-presentmode can be referred to as a modified-continuous-run mode. For example,in a device operating in a modified-continuous-run mode, documentssatisfying a no-call denomination criterion and a data extraction errorcriterion are flagged according to the run-and-present mode and documentsatisfying a doubles criterion are flagged according to thestop-and-present mode.

Now referring to FIG. 9A, a representation of an interface 200 a forentering denomination information of a flagged no-call denominationdocument is shown according to some embodiments. According to someembodiments, a no-call denomination document is a currency bill (asshown in FIG. 9A) that the document processing system 100 failed todenominate (e.g., a currency bill whose denomination could not be calledor determined by the controller 150). In some such embodiments, thecontroller 150 is configured to flag a no-call denomination currencybill to an operator of the document processing system 100 according to adesignated mode of operation, such as, for example, the run-and-presentmode or the stop-and-present mode. As described above, according to therun-and-present mode and/or the stop-and-present mode, the documentprocessing system 100 can be configured to display a visually readableimage 210 a of the flagged no-call denomination document on theinterface 200 a to indicate to the operator that the controller 150could not call or determine the denomination of the currency bill.According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100 can beconfigured to display the visually readable image 210 a to flag thecurrency bill as satisfying any one or more other flag criteria, suchas, for example, the extraction error-currency bill criterion such as aserial number extraction error criterion (described in reference toFIGS. 9C-9E), the extraction error-check criterion such as a MICR lineextraction error criterion, the suspect criterion (described inreference to FIGS. 11A and 11B in the Modes of Operation—BlacklistSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure), the doublescriterion, the overlap criterion, the fitness criterion, and/or the soilcriterion. According to some embodiments, the interface 200 a is thecontrol panel 170 or a local display device, such as, for example, atouch screen display of the document processing system 100. According tosome embodiments, the interface 200 a is a remote display devicecommunicatively connected to the document processing system 100.

For some of the embodiments, flagging the currency bill as a no-calldenomination currency bill, as shown in FIG. 9A, the interface 200 afurther includes a plurality of denomination keys or denominationelements or denomination selection elements 230 a that are eachassociated with a distinct denomination. For example, a $100denomination element 231 a is associated with the $100 denomination,etc. In the illustrated embodiment, the denomination selection elements230 a are touch screen buttons or softkeys configured to be activated bytouch and/or selection by an operator. According to some embodiments,these denomination selection elements 230 a are employed in conjunctionwith different operating modes such as the stop-and-present mode and therun-and-present mode.

According to some embodiments, the operator reviews the visuallyreadable image 210 a via the interface 200 a and determines the properdenomination selection element to activate. The operator can thenactivate one of the plurality of denomination selection elements 230 ato cause the controller 150 to associate the distinct denomination ofthe activated or selected denomination selection element (e.g., $10denomination selection element 231 a′) with the visually readable image210 a displayed on the interface 200 a and/or the corresponding datafile or record. For example, the operator could activate or select the$10 denomination selection element 231 a′ to call the flagged no-calldenomination currency bill as a ten dollar currency bill. According tosome embodiments, such a selection causes the controller 150 to updateand/or edit a record associated with the no-call denomination currencybill to indicate the denomination as a ten dollar denomination.According to some embodiments, the activation and/or selection of the$10 denomination element 231 a′ causes the document processing system100 to store the visually readable image 210 a and the associateddistinct denomination in the memory 160 and/or a memory communicativelyconnected to the document processing system 100. According to somealternative embodiments, the document processing system 100 can includeother means for indicating or calling the denomination of a no-calldenomination currency bill, such as, for example, denominationpush-buttons located on a housing (e.g., the housing 190) of thedocument processing system 100. According to other embodiments, theinterface 200 a and/or denomination selection elements and/or otherselection elements take different forms such as a non-touchscreendisplay and physical buttons or keys as described in more detail in U.S.Pat. No. 5,790,697, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein inits entirety. Furthermore, the operation of denomination selectionelements and devices employing denomination selection elements includingthe use of denomination selection elements to increment appropriatecounters keeping track of the denominations of bills processed andtotals of bills processed are also described in more detail in U.S. Pat.No. 5,790,697.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100denominates currency bills by analyzing image data that is reproducibleas visually readable images generated by one or more image scanners,such as the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b, to attempt to call ordetermine a denomination for each currency bill being processed.According to some such embodiments, the document processing systemcompares the image data that is reproducible as a visually readableimage 210 a or portions thereof or a lower resolution thereof with a setof master denomination patterns and/or master denomination image data.According to some embodiments, a processor or controller, such as thecontroller 150, calls the denomination of the currency bill according toa denomination associated with one of the master denomination patternsthat most closely corresponds to and/or matches the image data that isreproducible as the visually readable image 210 a or portion thereof.Thus, according to some embodiments, the controller 150 is configured todenominate currency bills based on the image data generated by the oneor more image scanners. According to some such embodiments, thecontroller 150 calculates or determines a confidence level associatedwith the denomination call or determination by the processor/controller.According to some embodiments, if the calculated confidence level isless than a predetermined threshold (e.g., about 95% confident, about85% confident, about 60% confident), the processor/controller disregardsthe denomination determination and flags the currency bill as a no-calldenomination currency bill according to, for example, therun-and-present mode of operation. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing system denominates bills based on the scanned imagesof the currency bills in a manner similar to that described in U.S. Pat.No. 5,295,196, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety. According to other embodiments, different denominating sensorsand techniques known to those skilled in the art may be employed such asthose used in commercially available currency bill denominating devicesor as described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,196.

According to some embodiments, as described in more detail in U.S. Pat.No. 5,790,697, which is incorporated by reference above, where thedocument processing system or device does not call the denomination of acurrency bill, the document processing system or device may beconfigured to prompt or suggest a denomination such as by causing one ofthe plurality of denomination selection elements 230 a to behighlighted. For example, as shown in FIG. 9A, the $10 denominationelement 231 a′ is highlighted to indicate to the operator that thedocument processing system 100 has determined that the visually readableimage 210 a is most likely a ten dollar currency bill even though thedocument processing system was not able to determine the denomination ofthe currency bill with enough confidence to actually call thedenomination of the currency bill. According to some embodiments, theoperator can review the visually readable image 210 a of the flaggedcurrency bill and activate or select the highlighted $10 denominationselection element 231 a′ as described above.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100includes a denomination accept element and/or button (not shown) thatthe operator can activate or select when the operator is in agreementwith the prompted or suggested denomination. Such a denomination acceptelement can be positioned on and/or with respect to the documentprocessing system 100 such that the operator can activate thedenomination accept element with minimal effort and movement. Thus, thedenomination accept element can be displayed as a softkey on theinterface 200 a, as a push-button positioned within the housing of thedocument processing device 101, and/or as a push-button or softkeycommunicatively connected to the document processing system 100.According to some embodiments, the denomination accept element canincrease overall document processing efficiency.

As discussed above, according to some embodiments, when the documentprocessing system 100 fails to call or determine the denominations of aplurality of currency bills being processed (no-call denominationcurrency bills), the document processing system 100 is configured todisplay a visually readable image of each no-call denomination currencybill—according to the run-and-present and/or the stop-and-present modesof operation—sequentially on the control panel 170 or other displaydevice of the document processing system 100. For example, the visuallyreadable images can be displayed in an order corresponding to the orderin which the no call denomination currency bills were transported fromthe input receptacle 110. In response to an operator making adenomination determination corresponding to a first one of the no-calldenomination currency bills via one of the plurality of denominationselection elements 230 a, the document processing system 100 isconfigured to remove the visually readable image of the first one of theno-call denomination currency bills from the interface 200 a and todisplay a visually readable image of a second one of the no-calldenomination currency bills on the interface 200 a. According to someembodiments, the document processing system 100 is configured to flagno-call denomination currency bills according to a run-and-present modeof operation and in response to an operator calling a denomination ofthe first one of the no-call denomination currency bills, as describedabove, the document processing system 100 is configured to flag thesecond no-call denomination currency bill while simultaneouslycontinuing to transport other currency bills and/or other documents. Asdescribed above, according to some embodiments of a run-and-present modeof operation, the display of visually readable images of no-callcurrency bills or flagged documents does not begin until the documentprocessing system has finished transporting the documents in a batch toone or more output receptacles.

According to some embodiments, when the document processing system 100fails to call or determine the denomination of currency bills beingprocessed (no-call denomination currency bills), the document processingsystem 100 is configured to add the records for the correspondingdocuments to a queue. Then, as described above, the system 100 candisplay the visually readable image of each no-call denominationcurrency bill—according to the run-and-present and/or thestop-and-present modes of operation—on the control panel 170 or otherdisplay device of the document processing system 100 to permit theoperator to enter the denomination of each no call bill. According tosome embodiments, the system 100 (1) sequentially displays the visuallyreadable image of each no-call denomination currency bill; (2) receivesinput from the operator as to the denomination of each bill whose imageis displayed; and (3) permits the operator to work through the queueuntil no more records remain in the queue. According to someembodiments, the operator can move between or scroll through visuallyreadable images of no-call denomination currency bills using a previouselement 260 a and a next element 260 b. According to some embodiments,the system 100 is configured to simultaneously display multiple visuallyreadable images of multiple no-call denomination currency bills andcomprises an interface which permits the operator to select one of thedisplayed images and select a denomination selection element for theselected image thereby associating the denomination corresponding to theselected denomination select element with the record of the selectedimage.

According to some embodiments, in response to the document processingsystem 100 failing to call or determine the denomination of a currencybill (no call denomination bill), the document processing system 100 isconfigured to display a visually readable image of the no-calldenomination currency bill according to the stop-and-present mode ofoperation. That is, the device displays the visually readable image on,for example, the control panel 170 or other display devicecommunicatively connected to the document processing system 100, andstops the transportation of documents such that the no call denominationbill is located at a predetermined position such as the last billdelivered to the output receptacle. According to some embodiments, inresponse to receiving a denomination input from an operator to call thedenomination of the no call denomination bill as described herein, thedevice is configured to restart and/or resume the transportation ofdocuments.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100includes exactly two output receptacles 130. One of the outputreceptacles is a reject receptacle for receiving currency bills and/orother documents that satisfy one or more of the flag criteria. Accordingto some embodiments, the document processing system 100 is configured toflag no-call denomination currency bills according to therun-and-present mode of operation and to off-sort or transport theflagged currency bill to the reject receptacle. According to some suchembodiments, an operator can review the visually readable image of theflagged currency bill on the control panel 170 and/or review thephysical currency bill by viewing the flagged currency bill in thereject receptacle or after removing the flagged document from the rejectreceptacle. As the reject receptacle may have significantly fewerdocuments than the primary or other output receptacle 130, finding ano-call denomination currency bill of interest can be more efficientthan having to find the no-call denomination currency bill in theprimary output receptacle.

According to some embodiments, the interface 200 a may include apositional locator 240 a, as shown in FIG. 9A. According to someembodiments, the document processing system 100 includes exactly oneoutput receptacle 130 and the positional locator 240 a is displayed tothe operator to indicate an exact or approximate position of a flaggeddocument or document of interest in the output receptacle 130. Accordingto some embodiments, the positional locator is a sequential number thatcorresponds to an order in which a flagged document was transported andprocessed by the document processing system 100 and/or the order inwhich the flagged document resides in the output receptacle. Forexample, the positional locator may indicate the location of the flaggeddocument of interest in a stack of documents residing in the outputreceptacle, such as, for example, the third document from the top of thestack or the twentieth document from the bottom of the stack. Such afeature can aid the operator in physically locating the flagged documentor document of interest within the output receptacle 130. For example,the operator may want to review the physical currency bill if thevisually readable image of the currency bill is distorted or otherwiseunreadable. Various other reasons for reviewing the physical documentare contemplated. As shown in FIG. 9A, the positional locator 240 aindicates that the flagged currency bill is the 64th document in theoutput receptacle. Thus, the operator can remove any documents in theoutput receptacle 130 and manually locate about the 64th document fromthe bottom of the stack. According to other embodiments, the documentprocessing system 100 includes two or more output receptacles 130 andthe positional locator can indicate an output receptacle identifier(e.g., output receptacle #2) and respective position within that outputreceptacle of the flagged document or document of interest.

According to some embodiments, the interface 200 a may include a FindDocument element 250 a, as shown in FIG. 9A. According to someembodiments, the Find Document element 250 a is displayed adjacent tothe visually readable image 210 a of the flagged currency bill. The FindDocument element 250 a can be activated or selected by the operator ofthe document processing system 100, such as, for example, by touching,pushing, and/or choosing the find document element, when the operatordesires to physically retrieve the flagged currency bill without havingto manually look or count through a stack of processed documentstransported to an output receptacle, such as the output receptacle 130′of the document processing device 101′. In response to the operatorselecting or activating the Find Document element 250 a, a processor orcontroller, such as controller 150, associates identifying informationassociated with the displayed flagged currency bill image 210 a and/orassociates the document associated with the displayed flagged currencybill image 210 a with a find document criteria. A document whose imagewas displayed when the Find Document element 250 a was selected oractivated is referred to as a Find Document. According to someembodiments, in response to the operator selecting or activating theFind Document element 250 a, the controller 150 adds identifyinginformation associated with the displayed flagged currency bill image210 a to a list such as a Find Document list and/or queue in a memorysuch as memory 160 of the document processing system 100. According tosome embodiments, the identifying information can include a serialnumber of the find document and/or a denomination of the find document.According to some embodiments, the identifying information includes apositional location of the find document in the stack of documents.According to some embodiments, in response to the operator selecting oractivating the Find Document element 250 a, the controller 150 stores aFind Document instruction in the memory 160. According to someembodiments, in response to the operator selecting or activating theFind Document element 250 a, the controller 150 tags a record or datafile associated with the displayed flagged currency bill image 210 a asdescribed above such as by entering an appropriate indication in therecord or data file such as by setting a Find Document bit in a flagcode field.

According to some embodiments, after a stack or batch of documents hasbeen initially processed by the document processing system and the FindDocument element has been selected or activated in connection with theimages of one or more documents in the stack or batch, the stack orbatch of documents having one or more Find Documents can be re-run by adocument processing system, such as the document processing system 100,or a document processing device, such as the document processing devices101, 101′, 101 a,b in a Find Mode. In the Find Mode, the documentprocessing system or device is configured to stop-and-present, off-sort,and/or otherwise separate Find Documents in the stack from otherdocuments in the stack. For example, according to some embodiments, whena batch of documents is processed in Find Mode, the controller isconfigured to automatically stop the transport mechanism 120 upondetecting each Find Document such that each Find Document is the lastdocument transported to an output receptacle of the document processingsystem or device. After stopping on a Find Document, the operator canremove the Find Document from the output receptacle. The documentprocessing system or device can be configured to automatically resumeoperation when the Find Document is removed or all documents are removedfrom the output receptacle or to resume in response to the selection ofa Continuation element as discussed in more detail in the abovereferenced and incorporated U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,697. Thus, in theseembodiments, the document processing system or device actively searchesfor Find Documents in a subsequent batch of documents and flags the FindDocuments according to a stop-and-present mode of operation wherein theflagging criterion is a document being a Find Document. According tosome such embodiments, the document processing system or device includesexactly one output receptacle, such as the document processing device101′. According to some other such embodiments, the document processingdevice comprises a plurality of output receptacles. According to someembodiments, in response to operating in a Find Mode, the documentprocessing system or device assumes that a find document is in the stackof documents being processed.

According to some embodiments, in response to the document processingdevice operating in the Find Mode, the device images each currency bill,extracts a serial number from image data associated with each currencybill, denominates each currency bill, and compares the extracted serialnumbers and/or associated denominations with the serial numbers and/ordenominations of the currency bills in the find document list and/orqueue. That is, the device can be configured to locate find document(s)in a batch of currency bills based on a serial number and/ordenomination comparison.

According to some alternative embodiments, the device can be configuredto locate find document(s) based on the find document's position in astack of documents being processed. For example, a positional locationof a find document is stored in the find document list and/or queue. Insuch embodiments, in response to re-running the batch to find the finddocument, the device counts the documents and stops on or off-sorts thedocument in the stack that corresponds to the positional location of thefind document.

When the Find Mode is employed with a document processing system ordevice according to the present disclosure having a plurality of outputreceptacles, the document processing system or device can be configuredto send or off-sort Find Documents to a first set of one or more outputreceptacles different or distinct from a second set of one or moreoutput receptacles to which the document processing system or device isconfigured to send non-Find Documents. According to some suchembodiments, the document processing system or device is configured tostop-and-present each detected Find Document in one or more of theoutput receptacles. Alternatively, according to some such embodiments,the document processing system or device is configured not to halt upondetecting Find Documents.

While the embodiments described above are in reference to the flaggedcurrency bill and the visually readable image 210 a, it is understoodthat the same or similar features are contemplated for other types ofdocuments processed by the document processing system or deviceincluding checks.

Now referring to FIG. 9B, a representation of an interface 200 b forentering denomination information of a flagged no-call denominationdocument is shown according to some embodiments. According to someembodiments, the interface 200 b is the same as the interface 200 a, butinstead of the visually readable image 210 a being of the entire flaggedcurrency bill, a visually readable denomination snippet image 210 b isdisplayed. Thus, according to some embodiments, the interface 200 bincludes a plurality of denomination selection elements 230 b, apositional locator 240 b, a Find Document element 250 b, and previousand next elements 261 a,b, where each are the same as the plurality ofdenomination selection elements 230 a, the positional locator 240 a, theFind Document element 250 a, and the previous and next elements 260 a,b,respectively. According to some embodiments, capturing and displayingthe denomination snippet image allows the document processing system 100to process documents more efficiently due to the overall smaller amountof data being manipulated and/or stored in the memory 160, as comparedto the embodiments described above in relation to FIG. 9A.

Now referring to FIG. 9C, a representation is shown of an interface 200c for entering unextracted identifying information or data for adocument flagged because of an error that occurred during the process ofextracting information or data from a visually readable image associatedwith the document. Documents flagged on this basis are referred to asData Extraction Error Documents. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing system 100 is configured to use OCR software such asdescribed above in, for example, the Optical Character RecognitionSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure, to extractidentifying information from image data that is reproducible as visuallyreadable images generated by the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b.According to some such embodiments, in response to the documentprocessing system 100 failing to extract a complete set of theidentifying information for a document, such as, for example, extractedcharacters and/or failing to do so with a predetermined level ofconfidence, a processor or controller, such as the controller 150, isconfigured to flag the document as a Data Extraction Error Document bydisplaying at least a portion of a visually readable image of the DataExtraction Error Document on the interface 200 c.

According to some embodiments, the Data Extraction Error Document is acurrency bill, as shown in FIG. 9C, and a complete set of extractedidentifying information is a currency bill serial number. For example,for U.S. currency bills a complete set of an extracted serial numberwould have ten or eleven characters depending on the series of thecurrency bill. According to some such embodiments, the at least aportion of the visually readable image of the Data Extraction ErrorDocument displayed on the interface 200 c is a serial number snippetimage 210 c, a denomination snippet image, a complete visually readableimage of one or both sides of the flagged currency bill document, or acombination thereof.

According to some embodiments, a Data Extraction Error Document is acurrency bill (as shown in FIG. 9C) that the document processing system100 fails to completely and/or correctly OCR, that is, a processor orcontroller such as the controller 150 could not extract or determine oneor more of the alphanumeric characters of the serial number of thecurrency bill. According to some embodiments, the controller 150 isconfigured to flag the Data Extraction Error Document to an operator ofthe document processing system 100 according to one of the modes ofoperation, such as, for example, the run-and-present mode. As describedabove, according to the run-and-present mode and/or the stop-and-presentmode, the document processing system 100 can be configured to displaythe visually readable image 210 c of the flagged Data Extraction ErrorDocument on the interface 200 c to indicate to the operator that thecontroller 150 could not extract or determine one or more of thealphanumeric characters of the currency bill serial number. According tosome embodiments, the interface 200 c is the same as, or similar to, theinterface 200 a.

For some of the embodiments flagging a currency bill as a DataExtraction Error Document, as shown in FIG. 9C, the interface 200 cfurther includes a plurality of alphanumeric character elements 230 cthat are each associated with a distinct alphanumeric character. Forexample, an “F” alphanumeric character element 231 c is associated withthe F alphanumeric character, etc. In the illustrated embodiment, thealphanumeric character elements 230 c are touch screen buttons orsoftkeys configured to be selected or activated by touch or selection ofan operator. According to some embodiments, the interface 200 c furtherincludes an incomplete set of extracted identifying information 221 c.The incomplete set of extracted identifying information 221 c includes aplurality of alphanumeric characters extracted from the visuallyreadable image 210 c of the flagged Data Extraction Error Document andone or more placeholder characters. According to some embodiments, theplaceholder characters can be a question mark “?,” a percent symbol,“%,” or other symbol to indicate a position of a missing alphanumericcharacter to be inputted by the operator via activation or selection ofone of the plurality of alphanumeric character elements 230 c, such as,for example, by touching, pushing, and/or choosing one of thealphanumeric character elements.

According to some embodiments, the operator reviews the visuallyreadable image 210 c and the incomplete set of extracted identifyinginformation 221 c via the interface 200 c and determines the properalphanumeric character element to activate to complete or fill-in theset of identifying information. The operator can then activate one ofthe plurality of alphanumeric character elements 230 c to cause thecontroller 150 to associate the distinct alphanumeric character of theactivated or selected alphanumeric character element with the visuallyreadable image 210 c displayed on the interface 200 c and/or theassociated set of extracted identifying information. For example, theoperator could activate or select the “C” alphanumeric character element231 c′ to complete the missing position of the incomplete set ofextracted identifying information 221 c as a “C.” According to someembodiments, such a selection causes the controller 150 to update and/oredit a data file or record associated with the flagged Data ExtractionError Document to indicate that the complete serial number isA49992815C. According to some embodiments, the activation and/orselection of the “C” alphanumeric character element 231 c′ causes thedocument processing system 100 to tag the completed set of theidentifying information to the visually readable image 210 c and tostore the tagged visually readable image 210 c in the memory 160 and/ora memory communicatively connected to the document processing system100. According to some alternative embodiments, the document processingsystem 100 can include other means for indicating the missingalphanumeric characters of a Data Extraction Error Document, such as,for example, an alphanumeric keyboard (e.g., QWERTY keyboard)communicatively connected with the document processing system 100 and/ora display device communicatively connected with the document processingsystem 100. It is contemplated that according to some embodiments, thedisplay device mirrors the control panel 170 display in a larger format.The display device can be local or remote from the document processingsystem 100.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100applies an OCR algorithm (e.g., the OCR software described above) foreach visually readable image generated by the image scanner(s) 140 aand/or 140 b to attempt to extract and/or determine a complete set ofidentifying information for each document being processed. According tosome embodiments, the controller 150 calls or determines each characterposition of the set of identifying information of the document as analphanumeric character that most closely corresponds to and/or matchesthe extracted alphanumeric character. According to some suchembodiments, the controller 150 calculates or determines a confidencelevel associated with the alphanumeric character call or determinationby the controller 150. According to some embodiments, if the calculatedconfidence level is less than a predetermined threshold (e.g., about 95%confident, about 85% confident, about 60% confident), the controller 150disregards the alphanumeric character determination and flags thedocument as a Data Extraction Error Document according to, for example,the run-and-present mode of operation.

According to some embodiments, the controller 150 determines the mostlikely identity of a character at a character position in a set ofidentifying information (e.g., a currency bill serial number) based onthe visually readable image; however, the calculated confidence level isbelow the predetermined threshold. In some such embodiments, thecontroller 150 can be configured to cause one of the plurality ofalphanumeric character elements 230 c to be highlighted to indicate asuggested character identity for a character position based on adetermination of the controller 150. For example, as shown in FIG. 9C,the “C” character element 231 c′ is highlighted to indicate to theoperator that the document processing system 100 has determined that themissing character is a “C,” but the confidence level is below thepredetermined threshold. According to some embodiments, the operator canreview the visually readable image 210 a of the flagged currency billand activate or select the highlighted “C” character element 231 c′ asdescribed above. According to some embodiments, each of the plurality ofalphanumeric character elements 230 c is associated with a distinctalphanumeric character that most closely matches the missing character.For example, as shown in FIG. 9C, the missing character is a C, thus,according to some embodiments, instead of the plurality of alphanumericcharacter elements 230 c being associated with sequential characters A,B, C, D, E and F, the plurality of alphanumeric character elements 230 ccan be associated C, D, G, and E, which the device determines are mostlikely to be the missing character. According to some embodiments, if anoperator determines that none of the plurality of alphanumeric characterelements 230 c match the missing character, the operator can scroll to adifferent set of alphanumeric character elements 230 c that isassociated with different alpha characters using arrow elements 262 a,b.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100includes an alphanumeric character accept element and/or button (notshown) that the operator can activate or select when the operator is inagreement with the suggested character identity determination of thecontroller 150, as indicated by the highlighted one of the plurality ofalphanumeric character elements 230 c. According to some embodiments,the alphanumeric character accept element is the same as, or similar tothe denomination accept element described above in relation to FIG. 9A.

According to some embodiments, in response to the document processingsystem 100 failing to extract a complete set of the identifyinginformation for a document, such as, for example, extracted charactersand/or failing to do so with a predetermined level of confidence, aprocessor or controller, such as the controller 150, is configured toflag the document as a Data Extraction Error Document by reprocessingthe image data associated with that document with a second more robustOCR algorithm such as described in the Optical Character RecognitionSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure. According tosome alternative embodiments, the system 100 is configured to transmitor otherwise send image data associated with the Data Extraction ErrorDocument to a different system configured to receive the image data andto reprocess the image data associated with that document with a morerobust OCR algorithm described in the Optical Character RecognitionSection than the one applied by the system 100. According to somealternative embodiments, only in response to the more robust algorithmfailing to extract a complete set of the identifying information for thedocument, the system 100 is configured to display at least a portion ofa visually readable image of the Data Extraction Error Document on theinterface 200 c as described herein.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100 failsto extract or determine a plurality of character positions within aplurality of sets of identifying information for a portion of aplurality of documents being processed. In some such embodiments, thedocument processing system 100 is configured to display a visuallyreadable image of each Data Extraction Error Document—according to therun-and-present and/or the stop-and-present modes ofoperation—sequentially on the control panel 170 or other local and/orremote display device communicatively connected to the documentprocessing system 100. The visually readable images can be displayed inan order corresponding to the order in which the Data Extraction ErrorDocuments were transported from the input receptacle 110 to the outputreceptacle(s) 130. In response to an operator making a characterselection that completes the set of identifying information of adocument corresponding to a first one of the Data Extraction ErrorDocuments via one of the plurality of alphanumeric elements 230 c, thedocument processing system 100 is configured to remove the visuallyreadable image of the first one of the Data Extraction Error Documentsfrom the interface 200 c and to display a visually readable image of asecond one of the Data Extraction Error Documents on the interface 200c. According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100 isconfigured to flag Data Extraction Error Documents according to therun-and-present mode of operation and in response to an operatorcompleting the identifying information of the first one of the DataExtraction Error Documents, as described above, the document processingsystem 100 is configured to flag the second no-call document whilecontinuing to transport other documents simultaneously. According tosome embodiments, the operator can move between or scroll throughvisually readable images of Data Extraction Error Documents using aprevious element 265 a and a next element 265 b.

According to some embodiments, the interface 200 c may include apositional locator 240 c, as shown in FIG. 9C. According to someembodiments, the positional locator 240 c is the same as, or similar to,the positional locator 240 a described above in reference to FIG. 9A.According to some embodiments, the interface 200 c may include a FindDocument element 250 c, as shown in FIG. 9C. According to someembodiments, the Find Document element 250 c is the same as, or similarto, the Find Document element 250 a described above in reference to FIG.9A. While some of the embodiments described above are in reference tothe flagged Data Extraction Error Document being a currency bill and thevisually readable image 210 c, it is understood that the same or similarfeatures are contemplated for other types of documents including checks.A Data Extraction Error Document which is a currency bill may also bereferred to as a extraction error currency bill. A Data Extraction ErrorDocument which is a check may also be referred to as a extraction errorcheck. A flagging criterion being the encountering of a data extractionerror while attempting to extract data or characters from the image of acurrency bill may be referred to as an extraction error-currency bill. Aflagging criterion being the encountering of a data extraction errorwhile attempting to extract data or characters from the image of a checkmay be referred to as an extraction error-check.

According to some alternative embodiments, a controller is configured tonot flag Data Extraction Error Documents to the operator of a documentprocessing system. For example, the controller can be configured to notflag Data Extraction Error Documents missing, for example, three or lesscharacters, two or less characters, or one or less characters. That is,the controller can be configured to let records of incompletelyextracted documents pass onto storage in a memory in response to therecords missing, for example, three or less serial number characters forrecords associated with currency bills. For example, according to somesuch alternative embodiments, records having the following extractedserial numbers would not be flagged as a Data Extraction Error Document:AL49992815?, A?49992815?, ??49992815?, AL49992815C. Similarly, recordshaving the following extracted serial numbers would still be flagged asData Extraction Error Documents: AL49992????, A???992815?, ??499?2815?.It is contemplated that the document processing device 101, 101′ and/orsystem 100 is configured to permit an operator to adjust settings of thedevice/system to allow such incomplete records to pass to storagewithout requiring the operator to manually correct and/or completeextracted data, such as, for example, serial numbers and/or MICR lines,to increase an overall efficiency and/or throughput of documentprocessing.

Now referring to FIG. 9D, a representation of an interface 200 d forentering identifying information of a flagged Data Extraction ErrorDocument, here an extraction error-currency bill, is shown according tosome embodiments. According to some embodiments, the interface 200 dincludes an incomplete set of extracted identifying information 221 d, avisually readable snippet serial number image 210 d, a plurality ofalphanumeric character elements 230 d, a positional locator 240 d, aFind Document element 250 d, arrow elements 263 a,b, and previous andnext elements 266 a,b. The incomplete set of extracted identifyinginformation 221 d and the visually readable snippet serial number image210 d are similar to the incomplete set of extracted identifyinginformation 221 c and the visually readable snippet serial number image210 c of the interface 200 c. The positional locator 240 d, the FindDocument element 250 d, the arrow elements 263 a,b, and the previous andnext elements 266 a,b are the same as the positional locator 240 a, theFind Document element 250 a, the arrow elements 262 a,b, and theprevious and next elements 265 a,b, respectively. According to someembodiments, the interface 200 d is the same as the interface 200 c. Asillustrated in FIG. 9D, instead of the flagged Data Extraction ErrorDocument having a missing alpha character (e.g., “C” alpha character),the missing character is a numeric character (e.g., “3” numericcharacter). According to some embodiments, the document processingsystem 100 determines the position of the missing character within theset of identifying information and based on that positionaldetermination displays the plurality of alphanumeric character elements230 c,d as alpha characters (as shown in FIG. 9C) or numeric characters(as shown in FIG. 9D).

Now referring to FIG. 9E, a representation of an interface 200 e forentering identifying information of a flagged Data Extraction ErrorDocument, here an extraction error-currency bill, is shown according tosome embodiments. According to some embodiments, the interface 200 e issimilar to the interfaces 200 c-d. According to some embodiments, theinterface 200 e includes an incomplete set of extracted identifyinginformation 221 e and a visually readable snippet serial number image210 e. According to some embodiments, the incomplete set of extractedidentifying information 221 e is corrected via the control panel 170, amouse, a keyboard, a touchscreen (e.g., softkeys), and/or another inputdevice, such as an input device of the computer 151. While theillustrated example in FIG. 9E is of a currency bill having missingserial number data, it is understood that various other currency billinformation can be missing and/or need correction; and it isadditionally understood that a similar operation occurs for correctingor entering missing data for checks and other documents processed by thedocument processing system 100 according to some embodiments.

Now referring to FIG. 9F, a representation of an interface 200 f forentering identifying information of a flagged Data Extraction ErrorDocument, here an extraction error-check, is shown according to someembodiments. The interface 200 f is similar to the interface 200 c,except the Data Extraction Error Document in FIG. 9F is a check, whereasthe Data Extraction Error Document in FIG. 9C is a currency bill.According to some embodiments, the interface 200 f includes anincomplete set of extracted identifying information 221 f, a visuallyreadable snippet MICR line image 210 f, a plurality of alphanumericcharacter elements 230 f, a positional locator 240 f, and a FindDocument element 250 f. According to some embodiments, the snippet imageis of a CAR and/or LAR area and/or an image of the entire check isdisplayed. The incomplete set of extracted identifying information 221 fand the visually readable snippet MICR line image 210 f are similar tothe incomplete set of extracted identifying information 221 c and thevisually readable snippet serial number image 210 c of the interface 200c. According to some embodiments, a complete set of the identifyinginformation for a check includes a routing and transit number or an ABAnumber 211 f, a financial account number 212 f, a check number 213 f,CAR/LAR amounts, or any combination thereof. The positional locator 240f and the Find Document element 250 f are the same as the positionallocator 240 a and the Find Document element 250 a, respectively. Asillustrated in FIG. 9F, the flagged Data Extraction Error Document ismissing two numeric characters (e.g., “0” numeric character). Accordingto some embodiments, an operator can select appropriate ones of thealphanumeric character elements 230 f to complete the missingcharacters.

According to some embodiments, the device 101, 101′ is configured todisplay visually readable images of all checks in a stack of documentson the interface 200 f such that an operator of the device 101, 101′ canmanually review the respective images and enter any missing data. Forexample, the operator can manually enter via touch keys on the interface200 f or other communicatively connected input device (e.g., keyboard,mouse, etc.) an address and/or name appearing on the check, MICR linedata/characters, and/or CAR/LAR amounts. According to some suchembodiments, the operator manually enters an amount for each check inthe stack of documents being processed such that no CAR/LAR software isneeded on-board of the device 101, 101′.

According to some embodiments, the device 101, 101′ is configured toexecute CAR/LAR software to automatically determine an amount associatedwith each check in a stack of documents being processed. In some suchembodiments, in response to the CAR/LAR software failing to determinethe amount of a check within a predetermined confidence level, thedevice 101, 101′ is configured to display a complete visually readableimage or select portions thereof on the interface 200 f such that theoperator can review the image for the amount and manually enter theamount in a similar manner, for example, that denominations are enteredas described in reference to FIGS. 9A and 9B and in a similar mannerthat missing serial number characters are entered in reference to FIGS.9C-9D.

As described in the Document Processing Speed Section, and in othersections of the present disclosure, according to some embodiments,denominating currency bills includes determining a series of each of thecurrency bills. In these embodiments, the denomination and/or seriesinformation of the bills can be used to determine a coordinate locationof one or more serial numbers and/or other bill characteristics (e.g., aback plate number, a check letter and quadrant number, a check letterand face plate number, a Federal Reserve letter/number) in generatedimage data from which a visually readable image of the currency bill canbe reproduced. According to some embodiments, such coordinate locationinformation is desirable because the serial numbers and/or other billcharacteristics vary in location by denomination and series. Accordingto some embodiments, a currency bill can be determined to be a suspectbill based on the location of the serial number and/or the location ofanother bill characteristic satisfying a serial number location flagcriterion and/or a bill characteristic flag criterion. That is,according to some embodiments, a currency bill can be determined to besuspect in response to determining that, for example, the serial numberof a bill is not located where expected based on the determineddenomination and/or series of the bill.

According to some embodiments, a document processing device 101, 101′and/or system 100 determines a denomination and series of a bill asdescribed herein, such as by analyzing one or more patterns taken fromthe image data, and uses the denomination and/or series information todetermine the expected location of one or more of the bill characters(e.g., serial numbers and other bill characters/characteristics).According to some embodiments, in response to the determined expectedlocation of, for example, the bill serial number not corresponding withthe actual location of the serial number in the image data, the deviceis configured to flag the bill as a suspect bill. According to someembodiments, the device maps appropriate image fields onto image data ofa bill being processed and attempts to extract corresponding charactersand populate corresponding fields in a record for the bill. If a billdoes not have a string of numbers or characters in an expected location,the device can flag it as a suspect.

According to some embodiments, in response to the device flagging thebill, the device can be configured to store image data from which avisually readable snippet image of the various image fields can bereproduced. That way, in response to a bill being flagged as a suspectbill, the device can be configured to display the snippet image of theexpected location and/or the entire bill with an outline around theexpected image field and an operator could verify that the expectedinformation (e.g., serial number, check letter and face plate number) isnot located in the expected/proper area of the bill—that is, the billsatisfies a location error-currency bill criterion. Alternatively, theuser could determine the expected information is located in the properarea but the device for some reason could not read the data (e.g., penmark over characters). Furthermore, according to some embodiments, thedevice can be configured to distinguish between a location error and adata extraction error. As such, the device is configured to takedifferent actions based on the two types of errors, such as, forexample, the device can be configured to stop-and-present in response toa location error and to populate corresponding data fields in the billrecord with one or more wildcard characters (e.g., “?”) in response to adata extraction error.

Now referring to FIG. 10, a representation of an interface 1000 forconfiguring one or more of the document processing systems and/ordevices of the present disclosure, such as the document processingsystem 100 and the document processing devices 101, 101′, and 101 a,b,is shown according to some embodiments. According to some embodiments,the interface 1000 is the control panel 170 and/or one or more displaydevices (e.g., a touch screen display) communicatively connected to thedocument processing system 100. FIG. 10 illustrates an example of anoperating parameters selection screen. The left-hand column 1005 listsvarious features and conditions for which the operator may makeselections. Columns 1010, 1020, and 1030 lists the available selectionchoices or options associated with each feature or condition. In theillustrated embodiment, columns 1010 and 1020 provide the operator withtwo flagging options for each error condition listed in column 1005,namely, stop-and-present a flagged bill (1010), do not stop uponencountering a flagged bill (1020), and display the image of a flaggedbill (1030). When a CONT selection element in column 1020 and a DISPLAYselection element in column 1030 are both selected or activated for aparticular error condition, a document meeting the associated errorcondition is handled in a manner called a run-and-present mode. When aSTOP selection element in column 1010 (with or without the correspondingDISPLAY selection element being also selected), a document meeting theassociated error condition is handled in a manner called astop-and-present mode. Although not illustrated, alternative oradditional columns of selection elements may also be included such asfor indicating to which output receptacle a flagged document of aparticular type should be delivered and/or where the flagged bill shouldbe located when the transport mechanism stops, for example, the CONT-2,P1, P2, ST options described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,819 incorporated byreference above, and/or the TAG only option described below.

According to some embodiments, the interface 1000 is a flagging/routingselection or configuration interface that allows an operator of thedocument processing system 100 to select a mode of operation for eachflag criteria such that a processor and/or controller, such as thecontroller 150, flags documents and/or visually readable images of thedocuments according to the selected mode of operation (e.g., a firstoperator-selectable mode 1010 or a second operator-selectable mode 1020)associated with a satisfied flag criteria. As shown in FIG. 10, theinterface 1000 includes a list of flag criteria or error conditions 1005that includes a no-call denomination criterion 1005 a, an extractionerror-currency bill criterion 1005 b, an extraction error-checkcriterion 1005 c, and a suspect criterion 1005 d. It is contemplatedthat the list of flag criteria 1005 can include more or less criteria,such as, for example, a doubles criterion, a stranger criterion, anoverlap criterion, a fitness criterion, and a soil criterion. Accordingto some embodiments, an extraction error-currency bill criterion maycorrespond to an error in extracting one or more characters of theserial number of a currency bill. According to some embodiments, anextraction error-check criterion may correspond to an error inextracting one or more characters of the MICR line of a check.

According to some embodiments, the interface 1000 includes a firstoperator-selectable mode 1010 and a second operator-selectable mode1020. According to some embodiments, the first operator-selectable modeis the stop-and-present mode of operation discussed above and the secondoperator-selectable mode is the run-and-present mode of operationdiscussed above. According to some embodiments, selection of a CONTselection element corresponds to selection of a run-and-present modewherein an image associated with a flag document will be display withouthaving to separately select a corresponding DISPLAY selection element asdiscussed above. According to some embodiments, the run-and-present modeor run-and-present-image mode of operation is also called a continuousrun mode of operation because the transport mechanism 120 does not haltupon detecting a flagged document but continuously runs while theprocessor and/or controller flags documents by presenting a visuallyreadable image of the flagged document on the control panel 170 or otherdisplay device communicatively connected with the document processingsystem 100. Each of the flag criteria 1005 a-d are positioned adjacentto a first operator-selectable mode element 1010 a-d and a secondoperator-selectable mode element 1020 a-d. According to someembodiments, the operator of the document processing system 100activates or selects one of the first and the second operator-selectablemode elements 1010 a-d, 1020 a-d, respectively, for each of the flagcriteria 1005 a-d. For example, the run-and-present mode of operation1020 a is activated for the no-call denomination criterion 1005 a, thus,the document processing system 100 is configured to flag no-calldenomination documents according to the run-and-present mode ofoperation. For another example, the stop-and-present mode of operation1010 d is activated for the suspect document criterion 1005 d, thus, thedocument processing system 100 is configured to flag suspect documentsaccording to the stop-and-present mode of operation.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100 ispreconfigured to flag documents according to the run-and-present mode ofoperation and the stop-and-present mode of operation for particular flagcriteria. For example, the document processing system 100 can bepreconfigured to flag no-call denomination documents, extractionerror-currency bill documents, and extraction error-check documentsaccording to the run-and-present mode of operation, but preconfigured toflag documents satisfying the other flag criteria according to thestop-and-present mode of operation.

According to some embodiments, the operator configures the documentprocessing system 100 to flag documents for each of the flag criteriaaccording to designated mode selections such as those shown in FIG. 10.Thus, in response to a document and/or one of the visually readableimages generated by the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b satisfyingone of the flag criteria, the controller 150 is configured to flag thevisually readable image according to the activated operator-selectablemode associated with the satisfied one of the flag criteria. Forexample, if the visually readable image satisfies the extractionerror-currency bill criterion 1005 b (e.g., a serial number extractionerror), the processor and/or controller will flag the visually readableimage according to the run-and-present mode of operation. As anotherexample, if the visually readable image satisfies the extractionerror-check criterion 1005 c (e.g., a MICR line extraction error), thecontroller 150 will flag the visually readable image according to thestop-and-present mode of operation. For another example, if the documentand/or the visually readable image satisfies the suspect documentcriterion 1005 d, the controller 150 will flag the visually readableimage according to the stop-and-present mode of operation.

According to some embodiments, the operator associates a first group offlag criteria with the run-and-present mode of operation and a secondgroup of flag criteria with the stop-and-present mode of operation. Thatis, the operator groups or divides the flag criteria into arun-and-present group and a stop-and-present group. As shown in FIG. 10,the first group of flag criteria includes the no-call denominationcriterion 1005 a and the extraction error-currency bill criterion 1005b. Similarly, the second group of flag criteria includes the extractionerror-check criterion 1005 c and the suspect criterion 1005 d. Accordingto some such embodiments, the controller 150 is configured to flag adocument and/or visually readable image of the document according to therun-and-present mode of operation if the document and/or the visuallyreadable image of the document satisfies one of the flag criteria in thefirst group of flag criteria. Similarly, according to some suchembodiments, the controller 150 is configured to flag a document and/orvisually readable image of the document according to thestop-and-present mode of operation if the document and/or the visuallyreadable image of the document satisfies one of the flag criteria in thesecond group of flag criteria.

According to some embodiments, the interface 1000, additionally oralternatively, comprises other flagging options such as a tag only modeof operation (not shown), which is discussed above. According to somesuch embodiments, the operator can associate a third group of flagcriteria with the tag only mode of operation. That is, the operatorgroups or divides the flag criteria into a run-and-present group, astop-and-present group, and/or a tag only group. Likewise, according tosome embodiments, the interface 1000 permits an operator to designatethat one or more particular types of flagging errors or satisfaction ofone or more flag criteria will not trigger the flagging of a currencybill (e.g., the suspect mode may be turned off).

According to some embodiments, the interface 1000 is configured topermit an operator to designate how each of plurality of errorconditions are to be handled such as by, for example, associating one ormore of the plurality of error conditions with either a run-and-presentmode of operation or a stop-and-present mode of operation. As shown inFIG. 10, the flagging errors for which the run-and-present mode has beendesignated by the selection of a run-and-present selection element 1020a, 1020 b includes the no-call denomination criterion 1005 a and theextraction error-currency bill criterion 1005 b. Similarly, flaggingerrors for which the stop-and-present mode has been designated by theselection of a stop-and-present selection element 1010 c-d includes theextraction error-check 1005 c and the suspect criterion 1005 d.According to some such embodiments, the controller 150 is configured toflag a document and/or visually readable image of the document accordingto the run-and-present mode of operation if a run-and-present selectionelement (a first group selection element) has been selected or activatedfor the flagging error triggering the document to be flagged. Similarly,according to some such embodiments, the controller 150 is configured toflag a document and/or visually readable image of the document accordingto the stop-and-present mode of operation if a stop-and-presentselection element (a second group selection element) has been selectedor activated for the flagging error that causes the document to beflagged.

According to some embodiments, the interface 1000, additionally oralternatively, comprises other mode of operation selection elements suchas a third group selection elements associated with the tag only mode ofoperation (not shown), which is discussed above. Likewise, according tosome embodiments, the interface 1000 permit an operator to designatethat one or more particular types of flagging errors will not triggerthe flagging of a bill, for example, the suspect mode may be turned off.

Additional details about flagging, sorting, flagging interfaces androuting interfaces and additionally modes of operation and errorconditions which are employed with the document processing devices 101,101′ and the document processing devices 101 a,b according someembodiments can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,819, which is herebyincorporated by reference herein in its entirety. For example, meanssuch as selection elements may be provided to permit an operator todesignate into which of a plurality of output receptacles documentstriggering different flagging errors are to be sent.

Modes of Operation—Blacklist

Referring generally to FIGS. 11A and 11B, a representation of aninterface 1100 a,b for declaring a flagged document as suspect ornon-suspect is shown according to some embodiments. While the followingdescription is in reference to the document processing system 100, it iscontemplated that the document processing devices 101, 101′, 101 a,b,400 can include the same or similar interface as interface 1100 a,b.According to some embodiments, as described above, the documentprocessing system 100 is configured to authenticate documents using theauthentication sensor 145 and/or by using a database of serial numbersor other currency bill information such as currency bill records eachincluding a serial number, denomination, Federal Reserve Bank number,check letter(s), quadrant letter(s), face plate number and/or back platenumber, and/or combinations thereof (e.g., a currency bill blacklistdatabase or a suspect currency bill database) for known or suspectedcounterfeit currency bills and a database of checking account numbers orother check information such as check records each including MICR data,ABA routing number, account number, check number, amount data, payeedata, etc., and/or combinations thereof (e.g., a check blacklistdatabase or a suspect check database) for known or suspected checksassociated with fraudulent activity.

The authentication sensor 145 is configured to authenticate thedocuments based on one or more criteria and/or authentication tests asis known in the art. Authentication by use of a suspect or blacklistdatabase is accomplished by comparing identifying information (e.g.,currency bill serial number for currency bills and MICR lines orportions thereof for checks) extracted from the visually readable imagesgenerated by the image scanner(s) 140 a and/or 140 b for each documentprocessed with data or information in the blacklist database. Forexample, for a currency bill, according to some embodiments, thedocument processing system 100 compares an extracted serial number froma particular visually readable image of a currency bill (or acombination of denomination and an extracted serial number) with a listor blacklist database of serial numbers (or combinations ofdenominations and serial numbers) associated with counterfeit orsuspected counterfeit currency bills. For another example, for a check,according to some embodiments, the document processing system 100compares an extracted MICR line (or portions thereof) from a particularvisually readable image of a check with a list or blacklist database ofMICR lines (or portions thereof) associated with fraudulent or suspectedfraudulent checking accounts.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100receives and stores in a memory and/or is coupled to a memory havingstored therein a blacklist database of serial numbers and/or MICR linesor a currency bill blacklist database and a check blacklist database asdescribed above or a database including both currency bill blacklistinformation and check blacklist information. According to someembodiments, the blacklist database of serial numbers can furtherinclude information in addition to serial numbers, such as, for example,a reason why a particular currency bill was determined to be suspectand/or counterfeit. For example, the blacklist database can furtherindicate that a blacklisted currency bill having serial numberAL12345678B was blacklisted because of non-conforming magnetics. Foranother example, the blacklist database can further indicate that ablacklisted currency bill having serial number IF12345678C wasblacklisted because of non-conforming paper characteristics. It iscontemplated that according to some embodiments, the document processingdevices and/or systems of the present disclosure, such as device 101,can include such reasons that bills were determined to be suspect ingenerated records and/or databases, such as, for example, the recordsand databases described in the Document Records and Data Files Sectionand/or the Modes of Operation—Searching/Master Database Section, and inother sections of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, the blacklist database can be downloaded,uploaded, transmitted, and/or transferred into the memory 160 of thedocument processing system 100 and/or another memory communicativelyconnected to the document processing system 100. For example, thedocument processing system 100 can be configured to automaticallydownload blacklist databases or updates from a computer system coupledthereto and/or a website on the Internet according to a predeterminedschedule. Alternatively, when an update is prepared by a third party,for example, a bank such as the Federal Reserve Bank, the update can beautomatically uploaded to a server that the document processing system100 is communicatively connected with for downloading automatically orin response to an operator input.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100receives a plurality of documents for processing. The documentprocessing system 100 is configured to determine if any of the documentsare suspect documents based on a determination of the authenticationsensor 145 and/or based on a comparison of extracted identifyinginformation with information in the blacklist database. Put another way,according to some embodiments, the document processing system 100 isconfigured to determine if any of the documents satisfy a suspectcriterion, as described in reference the Modes of Operation—FlaggingSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure. According tosome embodiments, the document processing system 100 is configured toflag a document satisfying a suspect criterion by displaying at least aportion of a visually readable image of the document on the interface1100 a (e.g., the control panel 170). For example, as shown in FIG. 11A,a visually readable image 1110 a of a flagged currency bill thatsatisfies a suspect criterion is shown on the interface 1100 a.According to some embodiments, the flagged currency bill satisfies asuspect criterion because the suspect currency bill failed one or moreof the authentication tests of the authentication unit 145 and/orbecause the extracted serial number (or serial number, denomination,and/or series combination) corresponds with one of the serial numbers(or serial number, denomination, and/or series combination) included inthe blacklist database. It is understood that while the followingdiscussion in reference to FIGS. 11A and 11B regards a suspect currencybill that the same or similar features are contemplated for checks.

According to some embodiments, the interface 1100 a includes a pluralityof selection elements 1130 a. According to some embodiments, theplurality of selection elements 1130 a are softkeys displayed on thecontrol panel 170. The plurality of selection elements 1130 a caninclude an override element 1132 a and a suspect element 1131 a. Theplurality of selection elements 1130 a are configured to allow anoperator of the document processing system 100 to make an authenticationdetermination concerning a document associated with the visuallyreadable image 1110 a. For example, the operator may disagree withand/or desire to override the suspect determination of the documentprocessing system 100 for the currency bill shown in the interface 1100a.

According to some such embodiments, the operator may activate or selectthe override element 1132 a to cause the visually readable image 1110 aor a data file or record associated with the visually readable image1110 a to be tagged as “reviewed-accepted.” Thus, selecting the overrideelement 1132 a overrides the suspect determination of the documentprocessing system 100 with respect to the currency bill shown in theinterface 1100 a. According to some embodiments, the tagged visuallyreadable image 1110 a (not shown as tagged) is stored within a data fileor record (e.g., records 300 a-d, data file 301) in the memory 160 ofthe document processing system 100 such that the visually readable image1110 a reflects that the operator reviewed the currency bill andmanually determined that the currency bill was not a suspect document.According to some embodiments, the data file or record associated withthe visually readable image 1110 a is modified to reflect that theoperator reviewed the currency bill and manually determined that thecurrency bill was not a suspect document such as by, for example,setting a “reviewed-accepted” bit or field in the data file or record.Various reasons for overriding the suspect determination of the documentprocessing system 100 are contemplated.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100 isconfigured to determine a total value associated with a stack or batchof a plurality of documents placed in the input receptacle 110 that areprocessed by the document processing system 100. According to some suchembodiments, the controller 150 is configured to not include values ofdocuments determined to be suspect by the document processing system 100in the calculated total value. According to some embodiments, activationor selection of the override element 1132 a, such as, for example, bytouching, pushing, and/or choosing the override element, overrides thesuspect determination of the document processing system 100 with respectto the currency bill shown in the interface 1100 a and further causesthe value of the currency bill to be included in the calculated totalvalue for the batch of documents. According to some embodiments, theoperator may activate or select the suspect element 1131 a to cause thevisually readable image 1110 a to be tagged as “suspect” and/or to leaveunchanged any suspect indication existing in the data file or recordassociated with the displayed image, e.g., if a suspect bit or field wasset in the data file or record which in turn caused the displayed imageto be displayed, this suspect bit or field is not changed when thesuspect element 1131 a is selected. Thus, selecting the suspect element1131 a maintains the suspect determination of the document processingsystem 100 with respect to the currency bill shown in the interface 1100a.

According to some embodiments, the interface 1100 a includes apositional locator 1140 a and/or a find document element 1150 a. Thepositional locator 1140 a and the find document element 1150 a are thesame as, or similar to, the positional locator 240 a and/or the finddocument element 250 a described above and shown in FIG. 9A.

Referring to FIG. 11B, an interface 1100 b is shown for declaring aflagged document as suspect or non-suspect according to someembodiments. The interface 1100 b is similar to the interface 1100 a,except instead of including the visually readable image 1110 a of theentire flagged currency bill, the interface 1100 b includes a visuallyreadable serial number snippet image 1110 b of the flagged currency billand a blacklist serial number 1121 b. The blacklist serial number 1121 bis a serial number included in the blacklist database that thecontroller 150 determined to correspond with and/or match an extractedserial number of the flagged currency bill. According to someembodiments, the operator can review the visually readable serial numbersnippet image 1110 b and the blacklist serial number 1121 b to determineif the serial number of the flagged currency bill in fact matches and/orcorresponds with the backlist serial number 1121 b. According to someembodiments, the serial number of the flagged currency bill will notmatch the blacklist serial number 1121 b due to an OCR error made whileextracting the serial number from a visually readable image of a bill.It is contemplated that various other factors may cause the serialnumber of the flagged currency bill to not correspond with the blacklistserial number 1121 b.

According to some embodiments, the interface 1100 b can include adenomination snippet image 1111 b positioned adjacent to the visuallyreadable serial number snippet image 1110 b. According to someembodiments, the interface 1100 b includes a plurality of selectionelements 1130 b, a positional locator 1140 b, and a find documentelement 1150 b, which are the same as the plurality of selectionelements 1130 a, the positional locator 1140 a, and the find documentelement 1150 a described above and shown in FIG. 11A.

According to some embodiments, the blacklist database can be dividedinto a first database and a second database such that a first pluralityof identifying information is included in the first database and asecond plurality of identifying information is included in the seconddatabase. According to some embodiments, the first database is used in areal-time comparison and the second database is used in apost-processing comparison. According to some embodiments, theinformation contained in the first database is different from theinformation contained in the second database. For example, the first andthe second databases each include a plurality of serial numbersassociated with currency bills and the serial numbers in the firstdatabase are all different from the serial numbers in the seconddatabase. According to some alternative embodiments, at least one of theserial numbers in the first database is the same as one of the serialnumbers in the second database. The blacklist databases (e.g., the firstand the second databases) can be divided based on a number of factorsincluding, but not limited to, geographical location of the documentprocessing system 100, identifying information associated with stolendocuments, identifying information associated with ransom documents,identifying information associated with a customer deposit, etc.

According to some such embodiments, a processor/controller such as thecontroller 150 is configured to compare in real time documentinformation such as currency denomination information and/or extractedidentifying information (e.g., extracted serial numbers, extracted MICRlines) only with the identifying information included in the firstdatabase. For example, according to some embodiments, the documentprocessing system 100 is configured to process documents andauthenticate the documents by comparing extracted identifyinginformation with information in the first database simultaneously to thetransport mechanism 120 transporting the documents from the inputreceptacle 110 to the output receptacle 130. According to someembodiments, the document processing system 100 is configured to processdocuments and authenticate the documents by comparing extractedidentifying information with information in the first database while thetransport mechanism 120 is transporting the documents from the inputreceptacle 110 to the output receptacle 130 including while transportingdocuments at the speeds described in the Document Processing SpeedsSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure.

Additionally, the document processing system 100 can be configured tofurther authenticate the same documents in a post-processing operationby comparing the extracted identifying information with information inthe second database. That is, according to some embodiments, after thetransportation mechanism 120 stops transporting the documents, thedocument processing system 100 authenticates the documents by comparingthe extracted identifying information with information in the seconddatabase and/or after the transportation mechanism stops transportingthe documents, the document processing system 100 completesauthenticating the documents by completing the comparison of theextracted identifying information with information in the seconddatabase. According to some embodiments, the comparison with informationin the second database may occur after the processed bills have beenremoved from the output receptacle(s) 130 of the document processingdevice 101 and/or after another batch of documents has been processed bythe document processing device 101. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing system 100 completes authenticating a batch ofdocuments by completing the comparison of the extracted identifyinginformation with information in the second database before the batch ofdocuments has been removed from the output receptacle(s) 130 of thedocument processing device 101. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing system 100 begins to authenticate a batch ofdocuments by comparing the extracted identifying information withinformation in the second database after a portion of the batch ofdocuments have been transported to the output receptacle(s) 130, butbefore all of the documents in the batch of documents have beenprocessed and transported to the output receptacle(s) 130.

According to some embodiments, the blacklist database is divided intothe first and the second databases and/or the information to be storedin the first database is selected so that the first database has alimited amount of identifying information (e.g., 10 serial numbers[and/or denominations] or MICR lines, 100 serial numbers [and/ordenominations] or MICR lines, 1000 serial numbers [and/or denominations]or MICR lines). The amount of information stored in the first databaseis selected to allow the document processing system 100 to authenticatebased on the first blacklist database in real time. According to someembodiments, a computer and/or a second document processing system ordevice is communicatively connected to the document processing system100 to compare the extracted identifying information with information inthe second database in real time and/or via a post-processing operation.For example, as the identifying information is extracted, the documentprocessing system 100 can transmit records and/or data files includingthe extracted identifying information to a memory that is accessible bythe second document processing system for authentication based on thesecond database.

According to some embodiments, the first database is stored in a memoryin a document processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b or in a memorycomprising part the document processing system 100. According to somesuch embodiments, the second database is stored in a second memoryassociated with a computer or server not residing within the documentprocessing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b or forming part of the documentprocessing system 100 but the computer or server associated with seconddatabase is communicatively connected to the document processing device101, 101′, 101 a,b or the document processing system 100. As thedocument processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b or the document processingsystem 100 processes documents and collects document images andextracted or determined document information such as serial numbers anddenominations of processed currency bills, the document processingdevice 101, 101′, 101 a,b or the document processing system 100 isconfigured to send the collected images and/or extracted or determineddocument information to the computer or server. The computer or serverthen compares the received extracted and/or determined documentinformation to information stored in the second database. According tosome embodiments, if the computer or server finds a match, itimmediately sends a message back to the document processing device 101,101′, 101 a,b or the document processing system 100. The documentprocessing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b or the document processing system100 is configured to provide an alert to its operator such a by making anoise and/or displaying a message on a display such as control panel170. According to some embodiments, the system comprising the computeror server and the document processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b or thedocument processing system 100 is configured to perform the comparisonof the extracted and/or determined document information associated witha batch of documents to the information stored in the second database,detect any matches for documents in the batch, send an appropriatemessage(s) back to the document processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b orthe document processing system 100, and alert the operator of thedocument processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b or the document processingsystem 100 within minutes of the batch of documents being initially runon the document processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b or the documentprocessing system 100. Accordingly, the operator is alerted while thebatch of documents are still residing in the document processing device101, 101′, 101 a,b or the document processing system 100 or residing inthe vicinity of the operator. For example, the operator may be a bankteller and the above system provides an alert to the bank teller thatone of the documents within a batch of documents recently processed bythe teller had information matching information in the second database.The teller may then locate the batch of documents at his or her tellerstation and re-run the documents through the document processing device101, 101′, 101 a,b or the document processing system 100. When thedocuments are re-run, the document processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,bor the document processing system 100 flags the one or more matchingdocuments such as by off-sorting them to a designated output receptacleand/or by stopping the document processing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b orthe document processing system 100 in one of the manners described abovein the present disclosure, such as, for example, according to thestop-and-present mode of operation.

According to some such embodiments, the computer or server iscommunicatively coupled to a plurality of document processing devices101, 101′, 101 a,b or the document processing systems 100 and isconfigured to receive extracted information from the plurality ofdevices 101, 101′, 101 a,b or systems 100 and to send appropriatemessages back to the appropriate devices or systems. According to someembodiments, the second database is a suspect database including suspectserial numbers, suspect combinations of serial numbers anddenominations, and/or other suspect information or attributes associatedwith currency bills or checks. When the server detects a match, it sendsan appropriate message back to the device or system from which theserver received extracted information found to match information in thesecond database and/or it sends an appropriate message or e-mail back tothe operator of the device or system from which the server receivedextracted information found to match information in the second database.For example, in a banking environment comprising a plurality of tellerterminal or stations, each with a document processing device or system,the server is communicatively connected to each device or system. Whenthe server detects a match, it sends an appropriate message back to thedevice or system from which the server received extracted informationfound to match information in the second database and/or it sends anappropriate message or e-mail back to the teller station having thedevice or system from which the server received extracted informationfound to match information in the second database. For example, theteller station may also include a separate bank computer or terminal andthe above e-mail may be sent to that separate bank computer or terminalto alert the teller as described above. After receipt of a such analert, the teller could then locate the batch of documents identified inthe message or e-mail and re-run that batch or alternatively, re-run allthe documents located within the teller station when the alert isreceived. When the documents are re-run, the document processing deviceor system in the teller station off-sorts documents having informationfound to match information in the second database and/or halts operationin a manner as described above such as stopping with a document havinginformation found to match information in the second database being thelast document in an output receptacle of the document processing deviceor system. According to some embodiments, in response to the server notdetecting a match, the server can send an appropriate message, such as aconfirmation, back to the device or system from which the serverreceived extracted information found not to match any of the informationin the second database and/or it sends an appropriate message or e-mailback to the operator of the device or system from which the serverreceived extracted information found not to match any of the informationin the second database. For example, in the banking environmentdescribed herein, the message can notify the operator that the extractedinformation did not match any of the information in the second database.According to some embodiments, receipt of a “no match” notice can beused by a bank teller to release physical batches of documents he or shehas processed from his or her teller station such as by selling a traycontaining batches of documents for which “no match” notices have beenreceived.

According to some embodiments, a document processing system isconfigured to display a plurality of database selection elements on adisplay device, such as, for example, the control panel 170. Each of thedatabase selection elements is associated with a different suspectdatabase. For example, a first database selection element is associatedwith a first database that includes a first plurality of suspect serialnumbers and a second database selection element is associated with asecond database that includes a second plurality of suspect serialnumbers. For another example, a first database selection element isassociated with a first database that includes serial numbers associatedwith drug purchases, a second database selection element is associatedwith a second database that includes serial numbers associated withnewly discovered counterfeit bills, a third database selection elementis associated with a third database that includes serial numbersassociated with all known counterfeit bills, a fourth database selectionelement is associated with a fourth database that includes serialnumbers associated with counterfeit bills used to purchase expensivefurniture at a specific store, and a fifth database selection element isassociated with a fifth database that includes serial numbers associatedwith counterfeit bills discovered in California.

According to some embodiments, an operator of the system can selectand/or activate one or more of the database selection elements to makeactive and/or turn ON comparisons of data derived for processeddocuments such as extracted serial numbers of bills with data in thecorresponding activated and/or turned ON databases. According to someembodiments, the activated and/or ON databases will be actively used toauthenticate documents processed by the system in a real-time comparisonmode and/or a post-processing comparison mode. According to some suchembodiments, the operator can configure which ones of the databasesshould be used to authenticate documents on a real-time comparison mode,which ones of the databases should be used to authenticate documents ona post-processing comparison mode, and which ones of the databasesshould remain OFF.

According to some embodiments, identifying information (e.g., currencybill serial numbers and/or denominations) in a first database isassociated with high-priority suspect documents and identifyinginformation in a second and/or third database is associated withlow-priority suspect documents. For example, a high-priority suspectdocument might be one involved in a robbery in past week and alow-priority suspect document might be one involved in a robbery lastyear.

According to some embodiments, a document processing device isconfigured to authenticate currency bills using a first database inreal-time comparison mode and a second database in a post-processingcomparison mode. According to some such embodiments, the first databaseincludes at least about 70 percent fewer serial numbers than the seconddatabase. According to some such embodiments, the first databaseincludes at least about 90 percent fewer serial numbers than the seconddatabase. According to some such embodiments, the first databaseincludes at least about 99 percent fewer serial numbers than the seconddatabase. According to some such embodiments, the first databaseincludes up to about 100 serial numbers and the second database includesat least about 100 serial numbers.

Referring to FIG. 11C, a document processing network 1100 c is shownaccording to some embodiments. The document processing network 1100 cincludes one or more document processing devices and/or systems and oneor more databases configured to store a variety of information, such as,for example, suspect or blacklist information including currency billidentifying information (e.g., serial numbers) and/or check identifyinginformation (MICR line data or portions thereof). According to someembodiments, the one or more databases are configured to store datafiles and/or records, such as the data files and records described inthe Document Records and Data Files Section and in connection with FIGS.3A-3E, and in other sections of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, the document processing network 1100 c ismaintained and configured to provide a backbone for tracking documents,updating databases of records/data files/blacklists, and/or determiningif a document is a suspect document. That is, according to someembodiments, the devices, systems, and databases of the documentprocessing network 1100 c permit one or more entities, such as, forexample, governmental and/or law enforcement and/or stores and/or one ormore financial institutions to track and determine if currency billsand/or checks are suspect and/or associated with fraudulent activities.According to some embodiments, the document processing network 1100 cpermits one or more entities, such as, for example, governmental and/orlaw enforcement and/or stores and/or one or more financial institutionsto track non-suspect documents, such as, for example, to track genuinecurrency bills associated with and/or used in crimes as described in theModes of Operation—Searching/Master Database Section, and in othersections of the present disclosure.

Additionally, according to some embodiments, the devices, systems, anddatabases of the document processing network 1100 c permit one or moreentities, such as, for example, governmental and/or law enforcementand/or stores and/or one or more financial institutions to update one ormore suspect or blacklist databases with identifying information. Forexample, a store using a document processing device determines that abill is a suspect bill based on one or more authentication tests, suchas the authentication tests described in the Document Processing Deviceand System Section, and in other sections of the present disclosure. Thestore can transmit information associated with the determined suspectbill (e.g., serial number, denomination, series, etc.) to one or moredatabases storing such information such that other entities like otherstores and/or banks can compare similar information associated withother bills with the information associated with the determined suspectbill to make suspect determinations. Thus, according to someembodiments, the document processing network 1100 c provides a systemfor a multitude of stores, banks, law enforcement entities, etc. toshare information like serial numbers of determined suspect bills, MICRlines of determined suspect checks, and/or serial numbers of genuinebills to help combat problems associated with counterfeit bills,fraudulent checks, etc.

The document processing network 1100 c is shown as including a customerdocument processing system 1102 a and a financial institution documentprocessing system 1103 a communicatively connected via a network 1160,although it is contemplated that a multitude of customer documentprocessing systems 1102 a,b,n and/or a multitude of financialinstitution document processing systems 1103 a,b,n and/or a multitude ofother entities, such as, for example, governmental and/or lawenforcement entities can be communicatively connected via the network1160.

The customer document processing system 1102 includes documentprocessing devices 1171 a-n and communicatively connected computers 1181a-n, although it is contemplated that the customer document processingsystem 1102 can include any number of document processing devices and/orcomputers. Similarly, the financial institution document processingsystem 1103 includes document processing devices 1173 a-n andcommunicatively connected computers 1183 a-n, although it iscontemplated that the financial institution document processing system1103 can include any number of document processing devices and/orcomputers. It is contemplated that, according to some embodiments, eachof the computers 1181 a-n and 1183 a-n can be communicatively connectedwith between one and thirty document processing devices.

The document processing network 1100 c includes one or more databases.The database(s) can be stored in one or more memory devices located inone or more computers and/or in one or more document processing devices.As shown, the customer document processing system 1102 includes one ormore databases 1190, the financial institution document processingsystem 1103 includes one or more databases 1192, and the network 1160includes one or more databases 1194 a . . . 1194 n. The databases 1190,1192, 1194 are configured to store records and data files such as therecords and data files described in the Document Records and Data FilesSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure. Additionally,according to some embodiments, the databases 1190, 1192, 1194 areconfigured to store image data from which visually readable images canbe reproduced and/or serial numbers of bills and MICR lines of checks,or portions thereof. According to some embodiments, the databases 1190,1192, 1194 include records associated with suspect and/or counterfeitbills and/or checks. According to some embodiments, the databases 1190,1192, 1194 include records associated with all bills and/or checksprocessed on one or more specific document processing devices and/orother information such as information provided by law enforcemententities. For example, the database 1190 a can be configured to onlystore records associated with documents processed on the documentprocessing device 1171 a. For another example, the database 1190 b canbe configured to only store records associated with suspect documents.

According to some embodiments, a database (e.g., databases 1190, 1192,1194 a-n, 1440, 1540, 1541, 1640, 1680, 1685, 1690, and 1740) storingrecords associated with documents processed on one or more specificdocument processing devices can be used to enable a person or entitywith access to the database, such as, for example, a store, a bank, athird party, a bank customer, a store customer, and/or a governmental orlaw enforcement entity to look up a record in the future for a varietyof reasons. For example, a bank can look up one or more recordsassociated with bills returned to the bank from the U.S. Federal Reserveas being counterfeit to aid in determining which customer deposited thebill and should be charged back. For another example, a bank orgovernment entity can track large deposits of currency bills such as forcreating cash letters or government required reports for deposits over,for example, $10,000. For another example, such storage of records in adatabase can be used to help law enforcement agencies in the case of arobbery or theft, such as described in the Modes ofOperation—Searching/Master Database Section, and in other sections ofthe present disclosure. For another example, the storage of records canbe used by a financial institution to assist in analyzing cash flowthrough the financial institution, which can be helpful in makingdecisions about ordering money from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

According to some embodiments, a database or select portion thereof(e.g., databases 1190, 1192, 1194 a-n, 1440, 1540, 1541, 1640, 1680,1685, 1690, and 1740) storing records associated with documents (billsonly, checks only, bills and checks) processed on one or more documentprocessing devices and/or systems can be sorted/arranged to be viewed onone or more communicatively connected or coupled computers and/ordisplay devices and/or printed on one or more communicatively connectedor coupled printing devices. For example, the databases containing billand/or check records can be sorted and/or organized by transaction suchthat all records associated with a transaction identifier are sorted orgrouped together within the database. For another example, the databasescontaining bill records can be sorted and/or organized by denominationsuch that all bill records associated each denomination are sorted orgrouped together within the database (e.g. all bill records associatedwith $5 bills are grouped together, all bill records associated with$100 bills are grouped together, etc.). For another example, thedatabases containing bill records can be sorted and/or organized bydenomination as described above and then further sorted and/or groupedsequentially by serial number (lowest to highest or highest to lowest)for bill records. For another example, the databases containing billrecords can be sorted and/or organized by Federal Reserve Letter/Numberonly or by Federal Reserve Letter/Number and the further sorted and/orgrouped by denomination as described above and/or sequentially by serialnumber as described above. For another example, the databases containingbill records can be sorted and/or organized by the order in whichcorresponding bills were stacked into a cassette or strapped in a strapof bills (e.g., strap of 100 bills).

According to some embodiments, the databases 1190 a-n, 1192 a-n in thecustomer document processing system and the financial institutiondocument processing system, respectfully, are local databases the sameas, or similar to, the first database and the databases 1194 a,n areremote databases, the same as, or similar to, the second databasedescribed herein.

According to some embodiments, the customer document processing system1102 is configured to download and/or otherwise receive information,such as, for example, suspect serial numbers and/or records associatedwith suspect documents from the databases 1194 a-n in the network 1160and/or from the databases 1192 a-n in the financial institution documentprocessing system 1103. The received information can be stored in amemory device of one or more of the document processing devices 1171a-n, one or more of the customer computers 1181 a-n, and/or one or moreof the customer databases 1190 a-n. That is, according to someembodiments, the customer document processing system 1102 can update itsblacklist database with additional information to aid in determiningsuspect documents. Additionally, according to some embodiments, in asimilar fashion to downloading, the customer document processing system1102 can upload, transfer, and/or otherwise make available information,such as, for example, records, data files, image data, serial numbers,and or MICR lines or portions thereof, to the databases 1194 a-n in thenetwork 1160 and/or to the databases 1192 a-n in the financialinstitution document processing system 1103.

Similarly, according to some embodiments, the financial institutiondocument processing system 1103 is configured to download and/orotherwise receive information, such as, for example, suspect serialnumbers and/or records associated with suspect documents from thedatabases 1194 a-n in the network 1160 and/or from the databases 1190a-n in the customer document processing system 1102. The receivedinformation can be stored in a memory device of one or more of thedocument processing devices 1173 a-n, one or more of the customercomputers 1183 a-n, and/or one or more of the customer databases 1192a-n. That is, according to some embodiments, the financial institutiondocument processing system 1103 can update its blacklist database withadditional information to aid in determining suspect documents.Additionally, according to some embodiments, in a similar fashion todownloading, the financial institution document processing system 1103can upload, transfer, and/or otherwise make available information, suchas, for example, records, data files, image data, serial numbers, and orMICR lines or portions thereof, to the databases 1194 a-n in the network1160 and/or to the databases 1190 a-n in the customer documentprocessing system 1102.

According to some embodiments, one or more of the databases 1190 areconfigured to store records and/or data files associated with documentsprocessed within the customer document processing system 1102 anddifferent ones of the databases 1190 are configured to store blacklistinformation, such as suspect records, suspect serial numbers, suspectMICR lines or portions thereof. Similarly, according to someembodiments, one or more of the databases 1192 are configured to storerecords and/or data files associated with documents processed within thefinancial institution document processing system 1103 and different onesof the databases 1192 are configured to store blacklist information,such as suspect records, suspect serial numbers, suspect MICR lines orportions thereof.

Modes of Operation—Searching/Master Database

FIG. 12A illustrates exemplary records 1201 a in a database 1200 acreated using a document processing device or system, such as, forexample, the document processing system 100, the document processingdevice 101, the document processing device 101′, and/or the documentprocessing devices 101 a,b. For ease of description, the followingdisclosure regarding searching and master databases is made in referenceto the document processing system 100 and/or a document process systemor device; however, it is understood that any of the preceding systemsor devices can be used in similar or the same manners as describedherein. The database 1200 a is also referred to as a master databaseconfigured to store records associated with a plurality of documentsprocessed by a document processing system. According to someembodiments, each record is associated with one or more customer accountnumbers and/or one or more transaction identifiers. The database 1200 acan be stored within a memory (e.g., the memory 160) of the documentprocessing system 100 and/or any other storage or memory devicecommunicatively connected with the document processing system 100 (e.g.,the memory of the computer 151, shown in FIG. 1). The information in thedatabase 1200 a can be displayed on a control panel (e.g., the controlpanel 170) of the document processing system 100. Alternatively oradditionally, the information in the database 1200 a can be displayed onany display device communicatively connected with the memory storing thedatabase 1200 a or the document processing system 100.

According to some embodiments, the records 1201 a in the database 1200 aare summary versions of the records 300 a-d described above and shown inFIGS. 3A-D. According to some embodiments, selecting or activating aportion of one of the records 1201 a causes the document processingsystem 100 to display the entire record, or additional data fields(e.g., data fields 330 a,b; 360 a,b, etc.), on the control panel 170 orother display in a similar fashion as shown in FIGS. 3A-D. For example,the operator can touch one of the identification snippet images 1230 ato pull-up or display a more complete record for the respective record.

While the database 1200 a illustrates records 1201 a associated withcurrency bills and checks, it is contemplated that the database 1200 acan solely include records associated with currency bills or checks. Itis also contemplated that the database 1200 a can include records thatare associated with other types of documents, such as, for example,deposit slips. The records 1201 a may include a number of data fieldsand/or image fields, such as the order in which a document was imaged,that is, document number 1210 a. Other fields in the records 1201 a mayinclude a full image field 1220, an image field of an identificationsnippet 1230 a, an extracted identifier field 1240 a obtained using, forexample, OCR techniques such as those described in the Optical CharacterRecognition Section, and in other sections of the present disclosure, avalue field 1250 a, an account number field 1260 a associated with adeposit, and a transaction identifier field 1265 a. For currency bills,the identification snippet is a serial number snippet, the extractedidentifier is an extracted serial number, and the value is adenomination. For checks, the identification snippet is a MICR linesnippet, the extracted identifier is extracted MICR line data or anextracted portion of a MICR line, and the value is a check amount. Theexemplary database 1200 a is associated with three deposit transactions1265 a ₁₋₃ and three separate deposit account numbers 1260 a ₁₋₃ thatcorrespond to respective accounts associated with the respective deposittransactions. It is contemplated that according to some embodiments, thedatabase 1200 a can include records associated with any number offinancial transactions and/or account numbers, such as, for example, 1,2, 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000, 1,000,000, etc. It is also contemplated thateach record can, according to some embodiments, be associated with morethan 1 transaction and/or more than 1 account number. For example, if aparticular currency bill is deposited into the same bank three times bythree different people with three different account numbers, the recordassociated with that currency bill can indicate the account numbersand/or transaction identifiers associated with each of those deposits.According to some other embodiments, each time a currency bill or otherdocument is deposited, a new record can be created, which is unique fromall other records associated with that same document. Other dataassociated with each record for a document (e.g., a currency bill or acheck) can also be stored in the database 1200 a such as data associatedwith fields 320, 311′-317′, 321′, 331′, 332′ and/or 333′ described abovein connection with FIG. 3A. Similarly, each record for a check maycontain data associated with fields 340, 350, 341′-347′, 361′, 362′and/or 363′ described above in connection with FIG. 3B.

According to some embodiments, one or more of the records 1201 a in thedatabase 1200 a may have incomplete extracted identifier characterinformation 1270 a due to, for example, an error in the OCR and/orcontroller and/or the image of the character information to be extractedbeing unreadable by the OCR software. In FIG. 12A, individual identifiercharacters that were not determined during character extraction areindicated by a single wildcard character, such as, for example, aquestion mark “?” or an underscore “_”. For example, in record 4, therouting and transit characters in the fourth and ninth positions of thecheck were not extracted and are thus represented by a wildcardcharacter. For record 5, the currency bill had an eleven characterserial number but the characters in the fifth through seventh characterpositions were not determined and are thus represented by a wildcardcharacter. Similarly, in record 6, the characters in the second throughfourth character positions and the character in the sixth characterposition were not determined and are thus represented by a wildcardcharacter. In record 8, the fourth character in the serial number wasnot determined during the serial number extraction process and isreplaced with a wildcard character.

According to some embodiments, all records in a database include anextracted identifier that has no more than a threshold number ofwildcard characters. That is, according to some embodiments, anextracted identifier must be extracted with a certain degree of accuracyprior to being accepted and/or stored in the database. The thresholdnumber of wildcard characters can be a predefined number, such as, forexample, 1, 2, 3, or more. The threshold number can be preset in thesoftware of the document processing system 100 and/or configured by anoperator. If the threshold number is set at, for example, 2 wildcardcharacters, then during processing of documents, a document processingdevice or system will require operator input to correct and/or completeall extracted identifiers with more than 2 wildcard characters. Forexample, if a currency bill is imaged and an incomplete identifier(e.g., a serial number) is extracted during processing that results inan extracted serial number of 1234???8901, the system can prompt anoperator to review the currency bill or an image of at least a portionof the currency bill to determine the missing characters and manuallyenter the missing characters into the document processing system 100.According to some embodiments, the operator only has to enter 1 of the 3missing characters if the threshold number is 2.

According to some alternative embodiments, there is no threshold numberof wildcard characters. In such embodiments, a record can be stored inthe database with 1, 2, 3, or even all of its characters being wildcardcharacters. Such a record may be created for a document that hasexcessive soiling or wear. It is contemplated that some operators maydesire to allow the document processing system 100 to continually runand store records in the database, even if an identifier cannot beextracted to increase an overall document processing efficiency.According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100 and/ordevice 101, 101′ is configured to accept without requiring operatorintervention all records associated with some denominations (e.g., $1,$2, $5, $10, and $20 or by currency USD, EUR, TKL) with any number ofwildcard characters, while the system 100 and/or device 101, 101′ isconfigured to accept records associated with other denominations (e.g.,$50 and $100) only if the records contain less than a predeterminednumber of wildcard characters such as 3 or less wildcard characters fora given field such as a serial number field. For records associated withsuch other denominations having an extracted set of characterscontaining 4 or more wildcard characters, the system 100 and/or device101, 101′ is configured to prompt the operator (or other personreceiving the records) to input some or all of the missing characters.

According to some embodiments, incomplete extracted identifier characterinformation 1270 a is corrected by an operator, such as, for example, byusing interface 200 c-e an/or the control panel 170 for entering missingdata and/or correcting OCR errors such as described above in connectionwith FIGS. 9C-9E. That is, an operator can correct or enter missingidentifier characters during the processing of physical documents withthe document processing system 100. According to some embodiments,incomplete extracted identifier character information is not correctedby an operator, but rather, is stored in a database with missingcharacters. In some such embodiments, the incomplete identifiercharacter information is acceptable because the number of wildcardcharacters is less than the threshold number for that document type.

According to some embodiments, the extracted identifier field 1240 a ofthe records 1201 a associated with U.S. currency bills includes a numberof alphanumeric characters including alpha character fields 1280 a, 1282a and a numeric field 1281 a. For example, according to someembodiments, in the first alpha field 1280 a, the first letter can referto the series of a currency bill (e.g., document 1 from FIG. 12A is aseries C currency bill and document 6 from FIG. 12A is a series Dcurrency bill). The second letter in the first alpha field 1280 a canrefer to one of the twelve U.S. Federal Reserve Banks that ordered theparticular currency bill. The second alpha field 1282 a can be used todesignate the number of times a particular numeric portion of a serialnumber has been used. A currency bill of a particular denomination mayhave a unique serial number field based on the alphanumeric charactersprinted on the currency bill, but it is possible for an authenticcurrency bill to have the same exact numeric serial number portion 1281a as another authentic currency bill. For example, one $20 currency billcould have the alphanumeric serial number of AA12345678A and another $20currency bill could have the alphanumeric serial number of AA12345678B.While the numeric portion of the serial number is identical for both $20currency bills, the alphanumeric serial numbers are unique for eachcurrency bill (e.g., the field 1282 a “A” and “B” being different).According to some embodiments, the extracted identifier field 1240 c ofthe records 1201 a associated with checks can include one or more of thefollowing: an amount field, an on-us field, a transit and routing field,and/or an auxiliary on-us field. As shown in FIG. 12A, the extractedidentifier field 1240 c includes a routing and transit number field 1283a ₁, an account number field 1283 a ₂, and a check number field 1283 a₃. It is contemplated that according to some embodiments, the extractedidentifier field 1240 c can include more or less information.

Referring to FIG. 12B, a database 1200 b created using a documentprocessing device or system, such as, for example, the documentprocessing system 100, the document processing device 101, the documentprocessing device 101′, and/or the document processing devices 101 a,bis shown according to some embodiments. The database 1200 b is similarto the database 1200 a. The database 1200 b includes a plurality ofexemplary records 1201 b associated with currency bills. The records1201 b include a number of data fields and image fields, such as theorder in which a currency bill was imaged—here shown as Document IDcolumn or fields 1210 b. Other columns or fields include an image fieldof a serial number snippet 1230 b, an extracted serial number field 1240b obtained using, for example, OCR techniques as described above, and adocument type field 1285. In the illustrated embodiment, the documenttype for all the records 1201 b is “Currency Bill.” According to otherembodiments, the document type may also include check, deposit slip,etc. It is contemplated that according to some embodiments, variousother fields may be included in the database 1200 b, as discussed abovein connection with FIGS. 12A and 3A-3D.

Referring generally to FIGS. 12C-12F, according to some embodiments, anoperator of a document processing device or system, such as, forexample, the document processing system 100, the document processingdevice 101, the document processing device 101′, the document processingdevices 101 a,b, the customer document processing system 102, and/or thefinancial institution system 103, can perform a search using a searchalgorithm to search a database, such as, for example, the database 1200a,b for one or more records 1201 a,b (e.g., records 300 a-d, 305 a-h)associated with one or more documents. According to some embodiments,the operator searches the one or more databases with one or more targetidentifiers. According to some embodiments, a target identifier onlyincludes alphanumeric characters. According to some other embodiments, atarget identifier includes alphanumeric characters and one or morewildcard characters, such as, for example, eight alphanumeric charactersand three single wildcard characters (e.g., “?”) or seven alphanumericcharacters and one multiple wildcard character (e.g., “%”). For anotherexample, the operator can search for currency bill records by entering acomplete currency bill serial number, a portion of a currency billserial number, or a portion of a currency bill serial number and one ormore wildcard characters and/or a currency bill denomination into, forexample, the control panel 170 of the document processing system 100.For another example, the operator can search for a check record byentering MICR line characters, a portion of a MICR line, or a portion ofa MICR line and one or more wildcard characters that can include, forexample, an amount, an on-us number, an auxiliary on-us number, arouting and transit number, a customer account number, and/or a checknumber, into, for example, the control panel 170 of the documentprocessing system 100.

According to some embodiments, the database 1200 a,b can be queriedand/or searched to find, for example, a record associated with a suspector known counterfeit currency bill. According to some embodiments, thedatabase 1200 a,b can be queried to find a data file including and/orassociated with a record. Non-limiting examples of searches aredescribed herein in reference to the document processing system 100 forease of description; however, it is understood that according to varyingembodiments the document processing device 101, the document processingdevice 101′, the document processing devices 101 a,b, the customerdocument processing system 102, the financial institution system 103,and/or a computer communicatively connected to the memory storing thedatabase(s) can each be used to perform the same or similar searches.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100includes a memory, such as, for example, the memory 160, and/or iscommunicatively connected to a memory that stores the database 1200 a,bincluding the records 1201 a,b. According to some embodiments, thedatabase(s) 1200 a, b (and/or 1440, 1540, 1541, 1640, 1680, 1685, 1690,1740 of FIGS. 14-17) can be searched for records of currency billshaving one or more of the following target identifiers: a target serialnumber, a target denomination, a target series, a target back platenumber, a target check letter and quadrant number, a target check letterand face plate number, a target Federal Reserve letter/number, etc.and/or ranges in the corresponding fields. For example, an operatormight search a currency database for records of all bills matching asubgroup of these target identifiers, such as, for example, all recordsfor bills with the Federal Reserve Bank number 11, check letter quadrantnumber 4, back plate number 5, series 1990, and denomination $100.According to some embodiments, the database can be searched for recordsof checks having one or more of the following target identifiers: atarget account number, a target bank number (routing or transit number),a target check amount, a target check number, a target date of check,etc. and/or ranges in the corresponding fields such as a range of checksamounts and/or dates. As described in more detail below, searches suchas for currency bills and/or checks can be performed that require exactmatching, matching for digits stored as wildcards, for example, “?”,1-difference matching, etc.

According to some embodiments, the operator enters or otherwise inputs atarget identifier, such as a target serial number of a currency billinto the document processing system 100 via the control panel 170.Alternatively, the operator can input the target serial number into aninput device communicatively connected to the document processing system100. According to some embodiments, the operator enters or otherwiseinputs a target serial number and a target denomination. That is, thetarget identifier includes a serial number portion and a denominationportion. According to some such embodiments, a target denomination maybe required to distinguish between two currency bills having the sameexact serial number. As shown in FIGS. 12C-12F, the target denominationis not limited to a specific denomination or currency, but ratherincludes all denominations within the selected currency (e.g., USD1,USD2, USD5, USD10, USD20, USD20, USD50, and USD100)—that is, the system100 will search all records regardless of denomination. As shown in FIG.12G, the target denomination is limited solely to USD100—that is, thesystem 100 only searches for a matching record associated with a $100bill.

According to some embodiments, the target serial number corresponds tothe serial number of a currency bill that has been identified as beingcounterfeit, such as, by the Federal Reserve Bank or Secret Service.According to some embodiments, the target serial number is a serialnumber of interest. For example, the target serial number can be theserial number of a suspect currency bill or the target serial number canbe the serial number of a genuine currency bill, such as, for example, alaundered currency bill (e.g., drug money), a currency bill involvedwith a crime, a theft, and/or a ransom. According to some embodiments,the target serial number corresponds to a portion of a serial number ofa currency bill and one or more wildcard characters. Various otherreasons for querying a serial number or a check MICR line arecontemplated, such as, for example, law enforcement purposes. Foranother example, in a Bank setting, an operator of a device, such as,for example, an imaging MPS in a back room or vault of the Bank, mightdesire to search for a record including a serial number of a currencybill determined to be suspect via the imaging MPS. According to someembodiments, the operator searches the database to determine whichteller in the Bank accepted the suspect bill and from which customer.According to some embodiments, the operator can then take responsiveaction, such as, for example, notifying a bank manager, initiating aninvestigation, etc.

For another example, many banks include one or more bundles of currencybills with prerecorded serial numbers and/or prerecorded denominationsin each teller draw and/or at each teller station. When a bank robberholds up the bank, the tellers are trained to give these bundles ofcurrency bills to the bank robber. Thus, law enforcement agencies canuse the prerecorded serial numbers and/or denominations to track thestolen money. For example, the prerecorded serial numbers and/ordenominations can be added to a database such as a stolen money databaseand/or a crime money database, similar to a blacklist database accordingto the present disclosure. Thus, when banks and/or other entities useone or more document processing systems or devices according to thepresent disclosure to process currency bills, the serial numbers and/ordenominations of the processed currency bills can be extracted andcompared to the serial numbers and/or denominations of the currencybills included in the crime money database. When a match occurs, lawenforcement agencies can be notified and provided information associatedwith how a particular entity having a document processing system came tobe in possession of currency bills having serial numbers and/ordenominations matching those stored in the stolen money database. Forexample, when a bank receives a deposit including currency bills from acustomer, the teller can run the money through a document processingsystem or device as described in the present disclosure. The documentprocessing system or device images each received bill, denominates eachbill, and extracts the serial number of each bill. Data files and/orrecords are generated for the deposit transaction as described herein.In addition to serial number and denomination information the data fileand/or records may include information associating the deposit of eachbill with a customer who deposited the currency bills and/or thecustomer account which was credited for the associated deposit. Thus, amatch can help the law enforcement agencies track the stolen moneyand/or find the bank robber or a bank account associated with the bankrobber or provide leads for law enforcement personnel by allowing themto determine into which accounts stolen currency bills were deposits andthus investigate the owner of such accounts and/or question them abouthow they came into possession of the stolen currency bills.

For another example, law enforcement agencies may desire to trackcurrency bills deposited and/or withdrawn from one or more financialinstitution accounts, such as, for example, a bank account of asuspected drug dealer, criminal, money launderer, etc. According to somesuch embodiments, with a proper subpoena, the law enforcement agenciescan create or develop a database by denomination and/or serial numberfor currency bills withdrawn and/or deposited in one or more target bankaccounts. Law enforcement agencies can then enter these serial numbersand/or denominations in one or more databases in cooperating banks suchthat any genuine currency bills deposited at the cooperating banks thatmatch a serial number and/or denomination in the database can be flaggedaccording to one or more of the flagging modes described above in theModes of Operation—Flagging Section, and in other sections of thepresent disclosure. Such a flagging operation of the matching-depositedcurrency bills can help the law enforcement agencies to identify thecustomer(s) making the deposit(s) or otherwise understand the flow ofcurrency bills among one or more persons involved in or associated withpersons involved in criminal activity. According to some suchembodiments, the law enforcement can track the serial numbers in thedatabase to identify patterns or flow of the currency between one ormore bank accounts to help identify target customer(s) and/or otherindividuals associated with the target customer(s) and one or morecurrency bills matching the data in the database.

According to some embodiments, the flagging may simply involve tagging arecord or data file associated with a currency bill having parametersmatching one or more parameters or specific combinations of parametersin a crime money database. According to some such embodiments, bankpersonnel such as bank personnel running one or more document processingdevices in a bank would not have to be alerted to the occurrence of amatch to the information in a crime money database. Rather, the documentprocessing system could be configured to only alert law enforcement or alaw enforcement computer system and/or only selected individuals withina bank. According to some embodiments, information related to depositedcurrency bills such as information in the above described data files orrecords is simply sent to or provided to law enforcement personneland/or law enforcement computer systems, and comparison of data to datain a crime money database is performed by law enforcement personneland/or on law enforcement computer systems.

According to some embodiments, a target serial number of a currency billhas 11 or 10 characters, that is, the serial number includes Mcharacters, where M equals 11 or 10 depending on the series of thecurrency bill. According to some such embodiments, all of the Mcharacters are alphanumeric characters. According to some otherembodiments, one or more of the M characters is a wildcard character.According to some embodiments, the operator can search for currencybills having all M characters or some integer amount less than Mcharacters. For example, the operator can input M or M-X number ofcharacters into the document processing system or device, where M equals11 or 10 and X can equal 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Similarly, according tosome embodiments, the operator can enter or otherwise input at least aportion of a target MICR line of a check that has between about 25 and65 alphanumeric characters. That is, the MICR line includes M characterswhere M can equal any number between about 25 and 65. In some suchembodiments, the operator can search for checks having all M charactersor some integer amount less than M characters. For example, the operatorcan input M-X characters, where M-X equals the total number ofcharacters in a routing and transit field of the MICR line (e.g., 9numeric characters), the on-us field of the MICR line, the amount fieldin the MICR line, or any combination thereof. According to someembodiments, the operator can input M-X characters into the documentprocessing system, where the M-X characters include one or more wildcardcharacters. For example, a target serial number can be entered asfollows: ?B12345678A, ?B12345678?, %345678A, %12345%.

In response to receiving a target identifier, the document processingsystem 100 searches or queries one or more databases looking for anyrecords including an extracted identifier (e.g., 1240 a) that matchesthe target identifier. According to some embodiments, the documentprocessing system 100 is configurable to perform one or more types ofsearches to find one or more stored records associated with one or moredocuments. It is contemplated that an operator of the documentprocessing system 100 can select the type of search to be performedfrom, for example, a dropdown window. Alternatively or additionally, thetype of search can be preprogrammed into the document processing system100 as a default search.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100 canperform a basic-exact-match search. The basic-exact-match search entailsan operator entering a complete target identifier (e.g., 10 characterserial number) with no missing characters and no wildcard characters. Inresponse to receiving the complete target identifier, the documentprocessing system 100 searches or queries one or more databases to finda record that includes an extracted serial number with 10 charactersthat exactly match the target serial number in both value and position.For example, as shown in FIG. 12C, an operator entered a complete 10character target serial G71154353A 1241 c. The document processingsystem 100 returned a single record result 1201 c because the record1201 c was the only record in the queried databases that included a 10character extracted serial number that exactly matched the target serialnumber.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system or deviceis configurable to perform a wildcard-exact-match search. Thewildcard-exact-match search entails an operator entering a completetarget identifier (e.g., 10 character serial number) with no missingcharacters and no wildcard characters. In response to receiving thecomplete target identifier, the document processing system or devicesearches or queries one or more databases to find one or more matchingrecords that include an extracted serial number having 10 characters,where between 0 and 10 of the characters of the extracted serial numberare wildcard characters and the rest of the characters exactly match thetarget serial number in both value and position. That is, a recordincluding an extracted serial number having wildcard characters willresult in a matching record if the non-wildcard characters of theextracted serial number exactly match the target serial number. Forexample, in a wildcard-exact-match search the following extracted serialnumbers will result in a wildcard-exact-match for a target serial numberof G12345678A: G12345678A, ?12345678?, ?12345678A, ????????8A, %8A, andG123???78A.

According to some embodiments, a wildcard-exact-match search can resultin many records because there is no limit to the number of wildcardcharacters in matching results. Thus, according to some embodiments, thewildcard-exact-match search can be modified to limit the number ofwildcard characters in matching results. Such searches are referred toherein as a 1-wildcard-exact-match search, a 2-wildcard-exact-matchsearch, a 3-wildcard-exact-match search, etc.

A 1-wildcard-exact-match search entails an operator entering a completetarget identifier (e.g., 10 character serial number) with no missingcharacters and no wildcard characters. In response to receiving thecomplete target identifier, the document processing system or devicesearches or queries one or more databases to find one or more matchingrecords that include an extracted serial number having 10 characters,where no more than 1 of the characters of the extracted serial number isa wildcard character and the rest of the characters exactly match thetarget serial number in both value and position. That is, a recordincluding an extracted serial number having one or fewer wildcardcharacters will result in a matching record if the non-wildcardcharacters of the extracted serial number exactly match the targetserial number in both value and position. For example, in a1-wildcard-exact-match search the following extracted serial numberswill result in a 1-wildcard-exact-match for a target serial number ofG12345678A: G12345678A, ?12345678A, G1234?678A, G1234567?A, G1234567% A.Similarly, the following extracted serial numbers will not result in a1-wildcard-exact-match for a target serial number of G12345678A:G1234567??, ?12345678?, ??????678A, ??234567?A, C12345678A, C?2345678A.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100 isconfigurable to perform an x-degree-of-freedom search, such as, forexample, a 1-degree-of-freedom search, a 2-degree-of-freedom search,3-degree-of-freedom search, etc. The x-degree-of-freedom search entailsan operator entering a complete target identifier (e.g., 11 characterserial number) with no missing characters and no wildcard characters. Inresponse to receiving the complete target identifier, the documentprocessing system 100 searches or queries one or more databases to findone or more matching records that includes an extracted serial numberthat exactly matches the target serial number in all character positionsbut x, where x is 1, 2, 3, etc. For example, for a 1-degree-of-freedomsearch (x=1), the document processing system 100 attempts to match 1(x=1) fewer characters than all of the inputted target identifiercharacters, that is, a 1 character difference or deviance between thecomplete target identifier (e.g., target serial number 1241d) and anextracted serial number will result in a 1-degree match for a1-degree-of-freedom search. For another example, in a1-degree-of-freedom search the following extracted serial numbers willresult in a 1-degree match for a target serial number of GA12345678A:CA12345678A, ?A12345678A, and GA123?5678A. For yet another example, in a3-degree-of-freedom search, the following extracted serial numbers willresult in a 3-degree match for a target serial number of GA12345678A:GA12345678A, CA12345678A, ??12345678?, and CB12345678B. Thus, a3-degree-of-freedom search will produce 1-degree matches, 2-degreematches, and 3-degree matches.

According to some embodiments, an operator does not have a completetarget identifier, but rather has a portion of an identifier to search.For example, a law enforcement agency like the secret service might beinterested in searching a database for all records including 11character extracted serial numbers, where the first 8 characters of theserial numbers are GA123456. For another example, a law enforcementagency might be interested in searching a database for all recordsincluding 11 character extracted serial numbers, where the first 4characters of the serial numbers are GA12 and the last 2 characters are8A. For yet another example, an operator simply might not know or onlyhave a portion of a target serial number, such as, if a portion of thetarget serial number is unreadable. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing system or device can perform such searches accordingto one or more different searching criteria. For example, the documentprocessing system 100 can perform a basic-wildcard-placeholder search oran expanded-wildcard-placeholder search.

A basic-wildcard-placeholder search entails an operator entering aportion of a complete target identifier (e.g., 9 characters of an 11character serial number) with wildcard characters in place of anynon-entered identifier characters (e.g., unknown or missing serialnumber characters). In response to receiving the portion of the completetarget identifier with one or more wildcard placeholders, the documentprocessing system or device searches or queries one or more databases tofind one or more matching records that include all extracted serialnumbers having 11 characters, where the portion of the complete targetserial number exactly matches the non-wildcard characters of theextracted serial number. For example, in a basic-wildcard-placeholdersearch the following extracted serial numbers will result in abasic-wildcard-placeholder-match for a target serial number ofGA123456??? or GA123456%: GA12345678A, GA12345611B, GA12345699?, andGA123456??C. Similarly, the following extracted serial numbers will notresult in a basic-wildcard-placeholder-match for a target serial numberof GA123456???: GA12995678A, ?A12348878?, ??????178A, ???234887?A,GB12345678A, and ?A12345678A. For another example, in anotherbasic-wildcard-placeholder search the following extracted serial numberswill result in a basic-wildcard-placeholder-match for a target serialnumber of GA1277?778A: GA12345678A, GA12349978A, GA12555558A, andGA12?????8A. Similarly, the following extracted serial numbers will notresult in a basic-wildcard-placeholder-match for a target serial numberof GA12?????8A: GA11995678B, ?A88345678?, ??????678B, ???2345679?, and?A12345678A.

An expanded-wildcard-placeholder search entails an operator entering aportion of a complete target identifier (e.g., 9 characters of an 11character serial number) with wildcard characters in place of anynon-entered identifier characters (e.g., unknown or missing serialnumber characters). In response to receiving the portion of the completetarget identifier with one or more wildcard placeholders, the documentprocessing system or device searches or queries one or more databases tofind one or more matching records that include all extracted serialnumbers having 11 characters, where any number of the characters of theextracted serial number are wildcard characters and the non-wildcardcharacters exactly match the portion of the complete target serialnumber. For example, in an expanded-wildcard-placeholder search thefollowing extracted serial numbers will result in anexpand-wildcard-placeholder-match for a target serial number ofGA123456??? or GA123456%: GA12345678A, ??12345678A, and GA1234?678?.Similarly, the following extracted serial numbers will not result in anexpanded-wildcard-placeholder-match for a target serial number ofGA123456??? or GA123456%: GA12995678A, ?A12348878?, ??????178A,???234887?A.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system or deviceis configurable to perform an exact-string-match search. Anexact-string-match search returns records including extractedidentifiers that have an equal number of characters or more charactersthan the number of inputted characters of the target string ofidentifier characters. For example, for a target string of 8 identifiercharacters, all results must have 8 or more identifier characters. Theexact-string-match search entails an operator entering a target stringof identifier characters (e.g., a string of 8 identifier characters)with no wildcard characters. In response to receiving the target stringof identifier characters, the document processing system or devicesearches or queries one or more databases to find one or more matchingrecords that include an extracted serial number having, for example, 11characters, where any string of 8 characters within the extracted serialnumber exactly match the target string of identifier characters. Forexample, in an exact-string-match search of currency bill serial numbersthe following extracted serial numbers will result in anexact-string-match for a target string of identifier characters ofGA123456: GA12345678A, GA123456???, ???GA123456, 90GA123456A, andGA12345678. Similarly, the following extracted serial numbers will notresult in an exact-string-match for a target string of identifiercharacters of GA123456: GA12345?78A, GA12345978A, ?B12345678?,654321AG78A, 654321AG???, GA1234578A, and A123456???.

According to some embodiments, the document processing system or deviceis configurable to perform a custom search. A custom search entails anoperator entering a complete target identifier (e.g., 11 characters ofan 11 character serial number) or a portion of a complete targetidentifier (e.g., 9 characters of an 11 character serial number) with awildcard character in place of any non-entered identifier characters(e.g., 2 wildcard characters). Additionally, a custom search entails theoperator providing customized search rules, including how manyindividual characters of a target serial number (complete or partial)are to exactly match a character value and a character position of astored serial number in a database to result in a custom-match. Theoperator can also specify if a matching serial number must have the samenumber of characters as the target identifier, or if a serial numberwith a different number of characters but otherwise matches can resultin a custom-match (e.g., 9 characters of a 10 character serial numberexactly match 9 characters of an 11 character target serial number). Inresponse to receiving the customized search rules and the targetidentifier (complete or portion), the document processing system ordevice searches or queries one or more databases to find one or morerecords that match the target based on the custom search rules. Forexample, a target serial number includes 11 characters, GA12345678A, andthe customized search rules provide that 9 of the 11 characters have toexactly match in both value and position an 11 character serial numberfor a record (e.g., record 1201 c) from a database to be displayed as acustom-match. In such a custom search the following extracted serialnumbers will result in a custom-match for the target serial number ofGA12345678A: GA12345678A, ??12345678A, GA1234?678?, ?A12345678B, andCA12345678A. Similarly, the following extracted serial numbers will notresult in a custom-match for a target serial number of GA12345678A:GA12999678A, ?A1234567??, ?412345678B, and GA12345678.

Referring back to FIG. 12C, a display or operator interface displaying asearch result summary 1200 c of a basic-exact-match search is shownaccording to some embodiments. According to some embodiments, the searchresult summary 1200 c is displayed on control panel 170/170′ of thedocument processing device 101/101′ and/or on some other display ormonitor such as a monitor communicatively connected to the computer 151.The search result summary 1200 c indicates that the operator inputted a10 character target serial number of G71154353A and the documentprocessing system 100 found an exact match (that is a match for thebasic-exact-match search), as evidenced by record 1201 c being displayedincluding an extracted serial number 1240 c that exactly matches thetarget serial number 1241 c. The record 1201 c can include an imagefield of a serial number snippet 1230 c, an extracted serial number 1240c that exactly matches the target serial number 1241 c, a currency billdenomination 1250 c, a device identification 1261 c, a processing timestamp 1262 c, a batch number 1263 c, and/or a subbatch number 1264 c.The operator can view the serial number snippet 1230 c and/or thecurrency bill denomination 1250 c to confirm that the record 1201 c infact corresponds to the target serial number 1241 c and a denominationof interest. For example, the record 1201 c may include a serial numbersnippet 1230 c that matches the target serial number 1241 c, but therecord 1201 c is for a $2 currency bill and the operator might have beenlooking for a $10 currency bill. Such a result is possible as serialnumbers can be identical for different denominations of U.S. currencybills. According to some such embodiments, the operator can furtherlimit the search to a particular denomination. According to someembodiments, the operator can activate or select a portion of the record1201 c to cause the document processing system to pull up or display amore complete record associated with the target serial number such asthat illustrated in FIGS. 3A,C-D.

According to some embodiments, a display such as interface 170, 170′ mayonly display the serial number snippet(s) 1230 c and/or extracted serialnumber(s) 1240 c for matching records. According to some embodiments,the displayed records are configured to be selection elements (such astouchscreen keys) the selection of which causes the device 101/101′ topull up or display a more complete record associated with a selectedselection element. For example, the display may initially only displayserial number snippets of matching records and the operator then touchesone of the displayed snippets to see more information about the selectedrecord. In response to the operator touching the screen over a displayedsnippet, the device displays a full record associated with the selectedsnippet, such as, the records shown in FIGS. 3A,C-D.

According to some embodiments, the record 1201 c can alternatively oradditionally include an account number (e.g., account number 1260 a ₁₋₃or account number 331′ of FIG. 3A) associated with a customer thatdeposited the currency bill under search and/or the account which wascredited for the deposit of the particular currency bill associated withthe matching record, here the currency bill bearing serial numberG71154353A. According to some such embodiments, the operator can use theaccount number of the matching record to charge-back the customer'sfinancial account an amount equal to a value of the currency billbearing the target or suspect serial number.

For example, according to some embodiments, using teller software, theoperator can manually access the customer's financial account maintainedin, for example, an accounting system (e.g., banking system 460 of FIGS.4A and 4B) to debit the value of the currency bill (e.g., two dollars asshown in FIG. 12C). According to some such embodiments, the documentprocessing system or the document processing device automaticallygenerates a charge-back instruction including, for example, informationfrom or with which the correct account to be debited can be determinedsuch as the account number from the matching record. According to someembodiments, the charge-back instruction may contain additionalinformation such as the value of the currency bill bearing the matchingserial number and/or other data or images associated with the matchingrecord.

For another example, according to some embodiments, the search resultsummary 1200 c includes a charge-back button or element 1295 c. For asearch result summary, such as the search result summary 1200 c, where asingle exactly matching record 1201 c is displayed for thebasic-exact-match search, the operator can select or activate thecharge-back button 1295 c to automatically charge-back the customer'sfinancial account the amount equal to the value of the currency billbearing the target or suspect serial number. Alternatively, the operatorcan select or activate the charge-back button 1295 c to automaticallygenerate a charge-back instruction as described above in reference toFIGS. 4A-B, 5A-B, and 6.

According to some embodiments, the display or operator interfacedisplays or includes a new search button or element 1294. According tosome embodiments, the operator can activate or select the new searchbutton or element 1294 to begin a new search. For example, in the searchresult summary 1200 d shown in FIG. 12D, the operator performed adifferent basic-exact-match search querying a target serial number ofC71154353A. As evidenced by the zero number of records being displayed,the inputted or target serial number 1241 d did not exactly match anyserial numbers stored in the database 1200 a,b. Put another way, eachcharacter of the inputted or target serial number—C, 7, 1, 1, 5, 4, 3,5, 3, A—did not exactly match corresponding characters in like positionsof any one of the serial numbers stored in the database 1200 a,b. Thatis, none of the serial numbers in the database had the same alphanumericcharacters in the same character positions as the target serial number.Such a search result summary as the search result summary 1200 d mayoccur due to a variety of reasons. For example, the operator may haveinputted the serial number 1241 d incorrectly. For another example, theserial numbers stored in the database 1200 a,b may have been OCRedincorrectly or an operator may have incorrectly entered missingdata/characters when prompted to correct and/or complete an extractedserial number using the features described above in relation to FIGS.9C, 9D, and 9E. For another example, the currency bill bearing thematching serial number may have been incompletely OCRed such that arecord associated with the target serial number is not displayed as anexact match because one or more wildcard characters appear in theextracted serial number field, which prevents a match in abasic-exact-match search. Alternatively, the currency bill bearing thematching serial number may not have been imaged and had its serialnumber extracted by the document processing system or device.

Referring to the inputted serial number 1241 d, the inputted serialnumber 1241 d includes ten characters—C, 7, 1, 1, 5, 4, 3, 5, 3, A—andten distinct character positions, wherein the “C” is in a firstposition, the “7” is in a second position, etc. Thus, the inputted ortarget serial number 1241 d includes ten characters with each of the tencharacters located in one of the ten distinct character positions. Asdescribed above, the zero number of records shown in FIG. 12D occurredbecause none of the extracted serial numbers stored in the database 1200a,b exactly match the target serial number 1241 d characters (e.g., “C”“7”) in both character value (e.g., “C”, “1”) and character position(e.g., first, third).

According to some embodiments, the operator can select the new searchelement 1294 to perform another search, such as, for example, anotherbasic-exact-match search, a wildcard-exact-match search, abasic-wildcard-placeholder search, an expanded-wildcard-placeholdersearch, and exact-string-match search, or an x-degree-of-freedom search.Alternatively, the operator can activate and/or select anoperator-selectable element or character difference button 1290 d, alsocalled a “1-difference” button, to modify and/or broaden the searchingalgorithm parameters according to the 1-degree-of-freedom search. Thus,activating or selecting the 1-difference button 1290 d initializesand/or triggers a new search that causes the searching algorithm tosearch the serial number database 1200 a,b under 1-degree-of-freedomsearch parameters. According to some alternative embodiments, selectingand/or activating the 1-difference button 1290 d causes the documentprocessing system or device to perform a 1-wildcard-exact-match search.According to some embodiments, the 1-degree-of-freedom search is broaderthan the 1-wildcard-exact-match search in that the 1-degree-of-freedomsearch will return extracted identifiers as matches that exactly matchthe target identifier except for one deviant character, which include awildcard character or a miscalled character (e.g., an incorrectlyextracted character). Whereas, a 1-wildcard-exact-match search will notreturn an extracted identifier as a match that exactly matches thetarget identifier except for one miscalled character.

According to some alternative embodiments, a 1-degree-of-freedom searchcan be automatically performed in response to a basic-exact-match searchfailing to produce any matching records. Similarly, according to somealternative embodiments, a 2-degree-of-freedom search can beautomatically performed in response to a 1-degree-of-freedom searchfailing to produce any matching records.

Now referring to FIG. 12E, in response to an operator activating orselecting the difference button 1290 d (FIG. 12D), the documentprocessing system or device (such as via a searching algorithm) performsa secondary search according to a modified set of parameters. Accordingto some embodiments, the secondary search according to the modified setof parameters is a 1-degree-of-freedom search. Yet, according to otherembodiments, the secondary search according to the modified set ofparameters is a 1-wildcard-exact-match search. As shown in FIG. 12E, tworecords 1201 e ₁ and 1201 e ₂ are shown as 1-degree matches for a1-degree-of-freedom search. According to some embodiments, the firstrecord 120 let at least includes a serial number snippet 1230 e ₁ and anextracted serial number 1240 e ₁. The operator can visually compare thetarget serial number 1241 d with the serial number snippet 1230 e ₁and/or the extracted serial number 1240 e ₁ to determine if the targetserial number 1241 d in fact matches one or both of the serial numbersnippet 1230 e ₁ and the extracted serial number 1240 e ₁ or if atypographical or OCR error might have occurred. As illustrated in theexample in FIG. 12E, the extracted serial number 1240 e ₁ in the firstrecord 1201 e ₁ is identical to the target serial number except for adifference in the value of the character in the first characterposition—the first character in the target serial number being a “C” andthe first character in the extracted serial number field 1240 e ₁ beinga “G”. Thus, first the record 1201 e ₁ includes the extracted serialnumber 1240 e ₁ that has one deviant character, which under the1-degree-of-freedom search results in a 1-degree match.

According to some embodiments, the operator might recognize that thetarget serial number 1241 d was inputted into the document processingsystem or device incorrectly. That is, the operator inputted a targetserial number of C71154353A, but really intended to input a targetserial number of G71154353A, which exactly matches the first record 1201e ₁. In this scenario, the operator could correctly identify the firstrecord 1201 e ₁ as the desired record and proceed with any necessarycharge-backs, etc. Alternatively or additionally, the operator mightrecognize that the extracted serial number 1240 e ₁ does not correctlycorrespond with the serial number snippet 1230 e ₁; however, the targetserial number 1241 d does correspond with the serial number appearing inthe serial number snippet 1230 e ₁. In this example, because thedocument processing system or device searches the characters stored inthe extracted serial number field 1240 e ₁ and not the serial numbersnippet 1230 e ₁ directly, the operator could correctly identify thefirst record 1201 e ₁ as the desired record and proceed with anynecessary charge-backs and/or cause the document processing system ordevice to generate a charge-back instruction as described above.Additionally, according to some embodiments, the document processingsystem or device may be configured to permit the operator to edit thefirst record 1201 e ₁ to correct the error in the extracted serialnumber field 1240 e ₁, changing the “G” to a “C” as reflected in theserial number snippet 1230 e ₁.

The second record 1201 e ₂ is shown as shown as 1-degree match for the1-degree-of-freedom search. According to some embodiments, the secondrecord 1201 e ₂ at least includes a serial number snippet 1230 e ₂ andan extracted serial number 1240 e ₂. The operator can visually comparethe target serial number 1241 d with the serial number snippet 1230 e ₂and/or the extracted serial number 1240 e ₂ to determine if the targetserial number 1241 d in fact matches one or both of the serial numbersnippet 1230 e ₂ and the extracted serial number 1240 e ₂ or if one ormore characters are missing or if a typographical or OCR error mighthave occurred. As illustrated in the example in FIG. 12E, the extractedserial number 1240 e ₂ in the second record 1201 e ₂ is identical to thetarget serial number except for the character in the first characterposition being a wildcard character or a no-call character—the firstcharacter in the target serial number being a “C” and the firstcharacter in the extracted serial number field 1240 e ₂ being a “?”.Thus, second the record 1201 e ₂ includes the extracted serial number1240 e ₂ that has one deviant character, which under the1-degree-of-freedom search results in a 1-degree match. According tosome embodiments, the operator can inspect the serial number snippet1230 e ₂ to determine that the second record is not an exactly matchingrecord despite having an incomplete extracted serial number 1240 e ₂.

According to some embodiments, a search result summary 1200 e, as shownon a display or operator interface (e.g., operator interface 170),displays or contains a charge-back button or element 1295 e, a newsearch button or element 1294, an exact match button or element 1292,and/or an operator-selectable element or character difference button1290 e, also called a “2-difference” button. According to someembodiments, after reviewing the record 1201 e, the operator canactivate or select the new search button or element 1294, the exactmatch button or element 1292, or the operator-selectable element orcharacter difference button 1290 e. According to some embodiments,activation of the exact match button 1292 causes the document processingsystem or device to perform a basic-exact-match search, which displaysthe results of FIG. 12D. According to some embodiments, selection oractivation of the charge-back button 1295 e, such as, for example, bytouching, pushing, and/or choosing the charge-back button, automaticallycharges-back the customer's financial account and/or generates acharge-back instruction as described above in reference to FIG. 12C.

According to some embodiments, activation of the 2-difference button1290 e further modifies and/or broadens the searching algorithmparameters. According to some embodiments, in response to selecting oractivating the “2 difference” button 1290 e, the document processingsystem or device performs a third search according to a modified set ofparameters. According to some embodiments, the third search according tothe modified set of parameters is a 2-degree-of-freedom search. Yet,according to other embodiments, the third search according to themodified set of parameters is a 2-wildcard-exact-match search. A2-degree-of-freedom search is a search that returns records containingextracted serial numbers which exactly match the target serial number inall character positions but two. Put another way, the2-degree-of-freedom search returns matching results that contain two orless deviant characters. For example, instead attempting to match onefewer characters than all of the characters of the target serial numberas described above in reference to FIGS. 12D and 12E, the documentprocessing system or device attempts to match two fewer characters thanall of the inputted characters, that is, two deviant characters or a twocharacter difference between the inputted or target serial number 1241 dand the stored extracted serial numbers will result in a 2-degree matchdisplayed on the search result summary, as shown in FIG. 12F.

Referring to FIG. 12F, according to some embodiments, in response to theoperator activating or selecting the 2-difference button 1290 e (FIG.12E), the searching algorithm performs a 2-degree-of-freedom search. Asshown in FIG. 12F, two one-difference records 1201 f ₁ and seventwo-difference records 1201 f ₂ are shown as matching results. Therecords 1201 f ₁ are the same as the records 1201 e ₁ and 1201 e ₂described above and shown in FIG. 12E. The seven two difference records1201 f ₂ are similar to the one-difference records 1201 f ₁, but eachincludes two deviant and/or wildcard characters as compared with thetarget serial number 1241 d. For example, the first 2-difference recordhaving extracted serial number G71154351A includes two deviantcharacters as the first and the ninth characters (G and 1), which do notmatch the first and the ninth corresponding characters (C and 3) of thetarget serial number. For another example, the seventh 2-differencerecord having extracted serial number ?71154354A includes one wildcardcharacter as the first character (?) and one deviant character as theninth character (4), which do not match the first and the ninthcorresponding characters (C and 3) of the target serial number. Asdescribed above, the operator can visually compare the target serialnumber 1241 d and/or a target denomination with the resultant records1201 f ₁ and 1201 f ₂ to determine if the target serial number 1241 dand/or the target denomination matches or corresponds with one or moreof the records 1201 f ₁ and 1201 f ₂ such as, for example, by comparingthe target serial number to the serial numbers appearing in the serialnumber snippet fields 1230 f and/or by comparing the target denominationto the denominations appearing in denomination fields 1250 f.

According to some embodiments, a search result summary 1200 f, as shownon a display or operator interface (e.g., the operator interface 170),displays or contains a charge-back button or element 1295 f, a newsearch button or element 1294, a 1-difference operable-selectableelement or button 1290 d, and/or a 3-difference operator-selectableelement or character difference button 1290 f. According to someembodiments, after reviewing the records 1201 f ₁ and 1201 f ₂, theoperator can activate or select the new search button or element 1294,the operator-selectable element or character difference button 1290 d,or the operator-selectable element or character difference button 1290f. According to some embodiments, activation of the character differencebutton 1290 d causes the document processing system or device to performa 1-degree-of-freedom search, which displays the results of FIG. 12E.According to some embodiments, activation of the character differencebutton 1290 f further modifies and/or broadens the searching algorithmparameters. According to some embodiments, in response to selecting oractivating the “3 difference” button 1290 f, the document processingsystem or device performs a fourth search according to a modified set ofparameters. According to some embodiments, the fourth search accordingto the modified set of parameters is a 3-degree-of-freedom search. Yet,according to other embodiments, the fourth search according to themodified set of parameters is a 3-wildcard-exact-match search. A3-degree-of-freedom search is a search that returns records includingextracted serial numbers which exactly match the target serial number inall character positions but three. For example, instead attempting tomatch one or two fewer characters than all of the inputted characters asdescribed above in reference to FIGS. 12D and 12E, the documentprocessing system or device attempts to match three fewer charactersthan all of the inputted target characters, that is, three deviantcharacters or a three character difference between the inputted ortarget serial number and the stored extracted serial numbers results ina 3-degree match. According to some embodiments, the operator canconclude the search and enter or begin a new search by activating orselecting the new search button 1294.

According to some embodiments, the operator can charge-back a customerfinancial account associated with one of the records 1201 f ₁, 1201 f ₂in a similar manner as described above. According to some suchembodiments, the operator selects a matching or corresponding one of therecords 1201 f ₁, 1201 f ₂ as matching the target serial number. Thatis, the operator first determines which one of the displayed records isthe matching record. The matching record can be highlighted to indicatedthat it is the record of interest, that is, it is the record thatcorresponds to the target serial number. According to some embodiments,after selecting the matching record, the operator can select or activatethe charge-back button 1295 f to automatically charge-back a customerfinancial account associated with a customer that deposited the currencybill under search and/or the account which was credited for the depositof the particular currency bill associated with the selected-matchingrecord. Alternatively, selecting and/or activating the charge-backbutton 1296 f generates a charge-back instruction associated with thecustomer financial account as described above in reference to FIG. 12C.

According to some embodiments, summary results and/or data from matchingrecords is additionally or alternatively communicated by means otherthan displaying on the display or operator interface, such as, forexample, by printing the resulting information and/or records using aprinter and/or providing the resulting information electronically (e.g.,via e-mail, website, etc.).

Referring to FIG. 12G, a display or operator interface displaying asearch result summary 1200 g of a 2-degree-of-freedom search is shownaccording to some embodiments. According to some embodiments, the searchresult summary 1200 g is displayed on control panel 170/170′ of thedocument processing device 101/101′ and/or on some other display ormonitor such as a monitor communicatively connected to the computer 151.The search result summary 1200 g indicates that the operator inputted an11 character target serial number 1241 g of AB23456789A and a targetdenomination 1242 g of $100 and that the document processing system 100found six 2-degree matches (that is matches for a 2-degree-of-freedomsearch), as evidenced by the six records 1201 g being displayed.

According to some embodiments, the search result summary 1200 g isgenerated in response to an operator selecting a “2-difference” buttonor element, such as, for example, the 2-difference button 1290 e. Thatis, in response to a basic-exact-match search, such as, for example, thebasic-exact-match search described above in reference to FIG. 12C, andin response to a 1-degree-of-freedom search, such as, for example, the1-degree-of-freedom search described above in reference to FIG. 12E,both resulting in zero matches, an operator can activate and/or select a2-difference button to search and display 2-degree matches, if any.According to some alternative embodiments, the search result summary1200 g is generated automatically in response to an operator inputting atarget serial number and/or a target denomination and a documentprocessing device or system finding zero exact matches and zero 1-degreematches. That is, in response to a basic-exact-match search and a1-degree-of-freedom search both resulting in zero matches, the documentprocessing system 100 can be configured to automatically perform a2-degree-of-freedom search and to display all matches.

According to some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 12G, the search resultsummary 1200 g includes extracted serial numbers 1240 g for each record1201 g that matches the target serial number 1241 g according to the2-degree-of-freedom search parameters described above. That is, each ofthe records 1201 g are 2-degree matches. According to some embodiments,each of the records 1201 g can include an image field of a serial numbersnippet 1230 g, the extracted serial number 1240 g that matches thetarget serial number 1241 g with 2 differences, a currency billdenomination 1250 g, a device identification 1261 g, a processing timestamp 1262 g, a batch number 1263 g, and/or a subbatch number (notshown).

In a similar fashion as described above in reference to FIGS. 12C-12F,an operator can view the serial number snippets 1230 g and/or thecurrency bill denominations 1250 g to determine which one of the records1201 g, if any, in fact corresponds exactly to the target serial number1241 g and a denomination of interest. For example, the operator cancompare the target serial number 1241 g of AB23456789A with the serialnumber snippet 1230 g of the first one of the records 1201 g, whichincludes an actual serial number of AB23546789A. Thus, the operator candetermine based on the comparison that the first one of the records 1201g is not an exact match, but only appeared as a 2-degree match becausethe first record differs from the target serial by two characters—thefifth and sixth characters of the target serial number 1241 g being thereverse of the fifth and sixth characters of the first one of therecords 1201 g.

Similarly, the operator can compare the target serial number 1241 g withthe serial number snippets 1230 g of each of the other five records 1201g to determine if any of the records 1201 g being a 2-degree match infact include a serial number snippet 1230 g that exactly matches thetarget serial number 1241 g. As shown in the example of FIG. 12G, theoperator could eventually determine that the third one of the records1201 g in fact includes a serial number snippet 1230 g ₃ that exactlymatches the target serial number 1241 g.

A further examination of the third record illustrates that the recordwas not returned as an exact match in a basic-exact-match search or as a1-degree match in a 1-degree-of-freedom search because two of thecharacters of the extracted serial number 1240 g in the third recordwere wildcard characters. Specifically, the first and the eleventhcharacters of the extracted serial number 1240 g in the third record1201 g were not called. Various reasons exist that can lead to a record,such as the third record 1201 g, with an incompletely extracted serialnumber, such as those described elsewhere herein like in the Modes ofOperation—Flagging Section, and in other sections of the presentdisclosure.

According to some embodiments, the operator can select or activate thethird record to obtain additional information associated with therecord. According to some embodiments, the operator can select oractivate the charge-back button 1295 g to automatically charge-back acustomer's financial account an amount equal to the value of thecurrency bill bearing the target or suspect serial number.Alternatively, the operator can select or activate the charge-backbutton 1295 g to automatically generate a charge-back instruction asdescribed above in reference to FIGS. 4A-b, 5A-B, and 6.

According to some embodiments, the display or operator interfacedisplays or includes a new search button or element 1294 g. According tosome embodiments, the operator can activate or select the new searchbutton or element 1294 g to begin a new search in the same or similarmanner as described above in reference to FIGS. 12C-12F.

According to some embodiments, a database, such as, for example thedatabase 1200 a, only includes a portion of each extracted serial numberfor currency bills. For example, a database might only store anextracted serial number portion (e.g., serial number portion 1281 a) andan extracted second alpha field (e.g., second alpha field 1282 a)—thatis, according to some embodiments, a database does not include extractedcharacters for a first alpha field (e.g., first alpha field 1280 a).According to some such embodiments, records including such serial numberportions can result in a match with a target serial number having thesame or more characters. For example, according to some embodiments, abill has a serial number of AB12345678A, and a database storing a recordassociated with the bill includes an extracted serial number of12345678A. It is contemplated that, according to some embodiments, atarget serial number of AB12345678A will result in a match with therecord having the extracted serial number of 12345678A.

Deposit Transaction Verification

A method of verifying a deposit transaction, a charge-back notice, acredit notice, and/or a suspect determination is described according tosome embodiments of the present disclosure. As described above in theDeposit Transaction Section, the Electronic Portion of DepositTransaction Section, and in other sections of the present disclosure, acustomer can send store records associated with a deposit transaction toa bank for a credit to the customer's bank account. The credit can beprovisional and/or final. The store then transports physical documentsassociated with the deposit transaction to the bank for verification andfinal processing. According to some embodiments, the physical documentscan include all of the documents associated with the deposittransaction, just the currency bills associated with the deposittransaction, just the checks associated with the deposit transaction,just the on-us checks, or all the currency bills and on-us checksassociated with the deposit transaction.

As described above in the Physical Portion of Deposit TransactionSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure, after the bankreceives physical documents associated with the deposit transaction, thebank processes the physical documents in a bank document processingsystem to generate bank records. The bank records are compared orreconciled against the store records to determine if any expecteddocuments are no-show documents and/or to determine if any unexpecteddocuments are detected. In the case of a no-show document determination,the bank may charge-back the store a value associated with the no-showdocument and/or transmit a notice to the store indicating thecharge-back determination. In the case of an unexpected documentdetermination, the bank may credit the store a value associated with theunexpected document and/or transmit a notice to the store indicating theadditional/unexpected credit determination. According to someembodiments, as the bank processes the received physical documents, thebank authenticates the documents to determine if any of the documentsare suspect documents. In the case of a suspect determination, the bankmay charge-back the store a value associated with the suspect documentand/or transmit a notice to the store indicating the suspectdetermination and/or the charge-back determination.

As described above in the Early Suspect Detection Section, the SuspectNotice Section, and in other sections of the present disclosure,according to some embodiments, the bank can determine if one of thedocuments associated with the deposit transaction is a suspect documentbased on the store records alone prior to issuing a credit for thedeposit transaction. In some such embodiments, the bank may transmit anotice to the store indicating the suspect document determination and/orthat no credit was applied for the determined suspect document.

According to some embodiments, one or more customers of a bank may notuse a document processing system when making deposits. For example, theymay make a physical deposit including a plurality of currency billsand/or checks using a night deposit box or by giving the physicaldeposit directly to a bank teller. In such circumstances, the customermay include a deposit slip with the deposit transaction as describedabove which may include a total deposit amount, a total currency billsamount, a total check amount, etc. When a night deposit box is used tomake a deposit, the customer does not get a receipt indicating that thebank acknowledges that is has received everything the customer believeshe or she has deposited and/or an agreement as to the total value ofchecks, currency bills, or both included in a deposit. Nonetheless,according to some embodiments, such deposits are processed by the bankusing the document processing systems and devices described above suchas by running the documents through a document processing system asdescribed herein and generating visually readable images of all thedocuments associated with the transaction, extracting data from thoseimages, and/or creating records or data files associated with suchdeposits.

According to some embodiments, a store or other customer desires toverify information relating to a charge-back notice, a credit notice, asuspect notice, and/or a no-show notice associated with a deposittransaction. According to some embodiments, the document processingsystem or financial institution system is configured to allow a bankcustomer and/or authorized bank employees to retrieve and display one ormore or all of the documents included in one or more deposittransactions. For example, when a customer is informed that the amountof credit received for a particular night deposit transaction is lessthan what the customer recorded on the accompanying deposit slip, thecustomer may wish to view images of all the documents associated withthat deposit transaction (and/or see the other data associated withcorresponding records, e.g., extracted data) to verify that the amountof credit provided by the bank is correct. As another example, when acustomer receives a notice that their account has been debited for theamount of currency bill later discovered to be counterfeit, the customermay desire to see proof that he or she deposited the currency bill inquestion. According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, thecustomer may view the images of some or all the documents in the deposittransaction in question (and/or see other associated data, e.g.,extracted data) to verify that the currency bill bearing a serial numberin question was included in the deposit transaction. According to someembodiments, printed visually readable images of one or more documentsin one or more deposit transaction may be provided to the customer.According to some embodiments, visually readable images of one or moredocuments in one or more deposit transaction may be displayed on adisplay such as a computer monitor for the customer. According to someembodiments, a customer may gain access to such visually readable imageson one of the bank's monitors by visiting a bank branch. The appropriateimages may be accessed with the assistance of a bank employee and/or thebank may permit some customers to access the images without theassistance of a bank employee such as by permitting the customer toenter appropriate security information (such as an account number and apassword and/or PIN) into a computer system which has accessed to theappropriate images and/or records. According to some embodiments, afinancial institution system is configured to permit some customers toaccess the images remotely over a network such as the Internet such asby permitting the customer to enter appropriate security information(such as an account number and a password and/or PIN) into a computersystem which has accessed to the appropriate images and/or records.

According to some such embodiments, the bank stores all recordsassociated with deposit transactions in one or more computer systemssuch as on a central server. According to some such embodiments, therecords are downloaded, uploaded, and/or otherwise made available to thecentral server for storage at one or more predetermined instances, suchas, for example, each night after the bank closes and completes internalprocessing for the day. The central server may include one or morememory devices. A financial institution system may be configured suchthat the central server is connected to a plurality of bank branches andmay be configured to permit each bank branch to upload and/or store dataassociated with a plurality of deposit transactions from a plurality ofdevices 101, 101′ on the central server. According to some embodiments,the store or other customer is granted access to data stored on thecentral server that is associated with all deposit transactions betweenthe store and the bank. The data stored for each respective deposittransaction can include a visually readable image of every documentassociated with the deposit transaction, such as, currency bills,checks, deposit slip, etc. According to some embodiments, the dataassociated with the deposit transaction can include, store records, bankrecords, virtual deposit slips, visually readable images of preprinteddeposit slips, bank account information, or a combination thereof. Thus,according to some embodiments, an authorized store employee or personnelcan log into the central server and review data associated with one ormore deposit transactions between the store and the bank to verifyand/or reconcile information included in a notice, such as a charge-backnotice, a credit notice, a suspect notice, and/or a no-show notice.

According to some embodiments, access to the data on the central serveris limited to bank customers that have a login, such as a bank accountnumber, and/or a password, such as a PIN. According to some embodiments,data associated with a deposit transaction is stored on the centralserver for a predetermined amount of time, such as, for example, 30days, 60 days, 90 days, one year, etc. According to some embodiments,the authorized store employee or personnel can search for dataassociated with a particular deposit transaction based on a transactionidentifier associated with the deposit transaction. For example, theauthorized store employee or personnel can search based on a transactionidentifier on a deposit slip associated with the deposit transaction, acurrency bill serial number associated with the deposit transaction, achecking account number associated with the deposit transaction, etc.

Misfeed/Jam Reconcile Feature

Generally referring to the document processing devices 101, 101′ asdescribed above in reference to FIGS. 1, 2A-C and 13A-E, a jam/rerunfeature is described herein. According to some embodiments, the documentprocessing devices of the present disclosure receive a single stack orbatch of currency bills in an input receptacle, transport the currencybills, one at a time, denominate each currency bill, count each currencybill, calculate a total batch value based on the denomination and numberof each denomination that was counted and delivered to an outputreceptacle(s). Thus, at any given moment in time, the documentprocessing device has a current total batch value for all currency billsthat have been processed and delivered to the output receptacle(s) thatare associated with the batch of currency bills.

However, according to some embodiments, one or more of the currencybills in the batch may become jammed or lodged within a portion of thedocument processing device and/or other type of misfeed may occur, suchas a doubles error condition. For example, a jam may occur within atransport mechanism which may require operator attention to clear. Insuch circumstances, all of the currency bills in the batch need to bereconciled, including the currency bills that remain in the inputreceptacle, the currency bills jammed or lodged in the documentprocessing device, the currency bills that remain in the transport pathand not delivered to the output receptacle, and the currency bills thatwere processed and delivered to the output receptacle(s). Rather thanremoving all of the currency bills in each of these positions (e.g.,input receptacle, transport mechanism, output receptacle, etc.) andrerunning the entire batch, the document processing devices and systemsof the present disclosure provide a jam/rerun feature to aid an operatorin reconciling documents in various positions upon an occurrence of ajam or misfeed without having to rerun documents that were delivered toan output receptacle.

For example, a stack or batch of ten currency bills is placed in aninput receptacle of the document processing device. The batch includesthe following number of each denomination of currency bills: one $20dollar currency bill, three $10 dollar currency bills, four $5 dollarcurrency bills, one $2 dollar currency bill, and one $1 dollar bill. Theten currency bills are positioned in the following order from the bottomor leading end of the stack to the top or trailing end of the stack asplaced in the input receptacle: $5, $2, $20, $10, $5, $1, $10, $10, $5,$5. For a document processing device that initially processes this batchof ten currency bills feeding from the bottom or leading end of thestack, a jam may occur due to the third $10 dollar currency billbecoming jammed. Thus, according to some such embodiments, the followingcurrency bills have been processed and delivered to the outputreceptacle $5, $2, $20, $10, $5, $1, $10, which are the first throughseventh documents in the stack. Similarly, the following currency billsare either jammed in the document processing device or remain in theinput receptacle to be processed: $10, $5, $5, which are the eighththrough tenth documents in the stack.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices of thepresent disclosure can recognize that a jam has occurred in the middleof processing a batch of currency bills and suspend the processing ofthe batch. The suspension of processing may create a temporary batchcount file that maintains and/or stores the current count of documents,denomination of each document, and total value of the processeddocuments associated with the batch of documents. Likewise, any visuallyreadable images, extracted data, and/or records created for thedocuments sent to the output receptacle may be retained in memory suchas in a temporary batch count file. The suspension also allows anoperator to clear the jam to rerun the jammed documents and anydocuments remaining in the input receptacle, but without having to rerunthe documents that have already been processed by the device anddelivered to the output receptacle. Such a rerunning operation isadvantageous because it increases document processing efficiency byreducing the number of documents that must be rerun when a jam ormisfeed occurs.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices of thepresent disclosure are configured to provide rerun instructions to anoperator in the case of a jam or misfeed. For example, following theoccurrence of the jam of the eighth document from the bottom of thestack, that is, the third $10 dollar currency bill, described above, thedocument processing device can instruct, via one or more graphical userinterfaces (GUIs, such as, e.g., the control panel 170), the operator to(1) remove the currency bills in the output receptacle, (2) open thetransport mechanism to provide access to the jammed documents (such asdescribed in the Latch Mechanism and Associated Precision Transport GapSection below), (3) remove the jammed documents and replace them in theinput receptacle, (4) close the transport mechanism, and (5) initiate arerun operation via activation of a rerun selection element or button.According to some embodiments, the initiation of the rerun operationinstructs the device to access the temporary batch count file and to addthe count and/or total of the following remaining documents associatedwith the same batch of documents to the counts and/or total associatedwith the documents previously counted and delivered to the outputreceptacle just prior to the occurrence of the jam or misfeed and/orassociate any visually readable images, extracted data, and/or recordsfor the remaining documents with those for the same batch of documentsprocessed prior to the jam or misfeed and/or with the data fileassociated with such batch. By accessing the temporary batch count file,the device may be configured to avoid counting any document twice bycomparing newly created document records with existing records andeliminating any duplicates, for example, records having matchingextracted serial numbers and denominations.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices and/orsystems of the present disclosure display a summary associated with abatch of documents that was processed and delivered to the outputreceptacle. The summary can include a total value associated with theprocessed documents, a total value associated with processed checks inthe stack, a total value associated with processed currency bills in thestack, a total number of processed documents, a total number ofprocessed checks, a total number of processed currency bills, which canbe broken down by denomination, and/or visually readable images of alldocuments in the batch. According to some such embodiments, the operatorcan compare the values and/or totals provided in the summary against adeposit slip associated with the batch to further verify that the batchof documents was processed correctly and that the jam did not corruptand/or create an error during the processing.

Latch Mechanism and Associated Precision Transport Gap

Referring to FIGS. 13A-13E, where like reference numbers are used toindicate like components throughout the several views, the documentprocessing device 101′ presented in FIGS. 1, 2A-C is illustrated inaccordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. FIGS. 13Aand 13B illustrate the document processing device 101′ with the housing190 and other selected components, such as the input receptacle 110′,output receptacle 130′, and control panel 170′, removed to more clearlyillustrate the transport mechanism 120′ when in a closed position(designated generally as 120A′ in FIG. 13A) and an open position(designated generally as 120C′ in FIG. 13B). Likewise, FIGS. 13C-13E areside-view illustrations of the document processing device 101′ with thehousing 190 and certain selected components removed to more clearlydepict the transport mechanism 120′ in the closed position 120A′ (FIG.13C), in an intermediate position 120B′ (FIG. 13D), and in the openposition 120C′ (FIG. 13E). According to some embodiments, the transportmechanism 120′ can be transitioned from the closed position 120A′,through the intermediate position 120B′, to the open position 120C′ toprovide generally unobstructed access for servicing the documentprocessing device 101′, for cleaning the inside of the documentprocessing device 101′, such as the first and second image scanners 140a′ and/or 140 b′ (FIGS. 2B and 2C), to clear document jams, etc., as isdescribed herein.

According to some embodiments, the transport mechanism 120′ includes anupper transport-plate assembly 120 a′, as shown in FIGS. 13A-13E(referred to herein as “movable transport assembly”), and a lowertransport-plate assembly 120 b′, as shown in FIGS. 13A-13E (referred toherein as “stationary transport assembly”). According to someembodiments, each of the transport-plate assemblies 120 a′, 120 b′ mayoperatively house any combination of the following detection elements,without limitation, in one or more alternative embodiments: one or moresize detection sensors, a density sensor, a fitness detector, an opticalscan head, a contact image sensor, a single or multitude of magneticsensors, a thread sensor, an infrared sensor, an ultraviolet/fluorescentlight scan head, a media detector, or any other sensing means operableto detect characteristic information from a document. These detectionelements may be disposed in any order and on either or bothtransport-plate assemblies 120 a′, 120 b′ without departing from theintended scope of the present disclosure. Such detection sensors, and ahost of other sensors, elements, and/or detectors, are disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 6,278,795, to Matthew L. Anderson et al., entitled“Multi-Pocket Currency Discriminator” Processing”; U.S. Pat. No.7,187,795, to John E. Jones et al., entitled “Document Processing SystemUsing Full Image Scanning”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,069, to Richard A. Mazuret al., entitled “Intelligent Currency Handling System”; U.S. Pat. No.6,256,407, to Douglas U. Mennie et al., entitled “Color Scanhead andCurrency Handling System Employing the Same”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,721,442,to Douglas U. Mennie et al., entitled “Color Scanhead and CurrencyHandling System Employing the Same”; all of which are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

As noted above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2A-C, the plurality ofdocuments 135 (FIG. 1) may be serially driven, typically one at a time,along a transport path 1300′ in FIGS. 13B and 13E, through the documentprocessing device 101′, past the one or more image scanner(s) 140 a′and/or 140 b′, to one or more output receptacles 130′ (as shown in FIGS.2B-1D). According to some embodiments, the documents 135 may betransported by means of a transport roll arrangement, representedherein, in part, by a plurality of driven/powered rollers 1302′ and aplurality of passive/follower rollers 1304′. According to someembodiments, the driven rollers 1302′ are drivingly connected to anelectric motor 1306′, shown in FIG. 2B, via a belt drive system (notshown). According to other embodiments, the driven rollers 1302′ may bedrivingly connected to and powered by other prime movers, such as apneumatic or hydraulic motor. Likewise, according to some embodiments,the driven rollers 1302′ may be drivingly connected to the primemover(s) by other power transmission mechanisms, such as, but certainlynot limited to, a chain drive, a gear train or other gear system, adriveshaft, etc.

From the input receptacle 110′, a stripped document is moved inaccordance with the illustrated embodiment of FIGS. 13A-13E from thebottom of the stack, along a curved input path 1316′ in FIG. 13E, whichreceives documents moving downwardly and rearwardly, and changes thedirection of travel to a forward and downward direction. According tosome embodiments, it is at this point whereat the document enters thetransport path 1300′. With continued reference to the embodimentsillustrated in FIGS. 13A-13E, the document is then directed along agenerally curvilinear path, e.g., via the plurality driven rollers 1302′and passive rollers 1304′ as described above, whereat the bills areprocessed and subsequently stacked in the output receptacle 130′.

Stacking of the documents may be effected in certain arrangements at aforward end of the linear path, that is, at the end of the transportpath 1300′, where the documents are fed into one or more driven stackingwheels 1318′ (as best shown in FIGS. 2B and 2C). According to someembodiments, each stacker wheel 1318′ includes a plurality ofcircumferentially spaced, flexible blades 1320′ which operate to receiveand then deliver the documents into the output receptacle 130′ at theforward end of transport path 1300′. A similar transport arrangement tothat described above is disclosed in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No.5,687,963, to Douglas U. Mennie, entitled “Method and Apparatus forDiscriminating and Counting Documents,” which is incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

As mentioned above, according to some embodiments, the transportmechanism 120′ may be opened to facilitate cleaning and maintenance ofthe document processing device 101′. Referring to FIG. 13A, thetransport mechanism 120′ is shown in a closed position 120A′. That is,in the embodiment shown, the upper and lower transport-plate assemblies120 a′, 120 b′ are oriented such that the upper and lower transportsurface 122 a′, 122 b′ are immediately adjacent one another andgenerally co-planar when the transport mechanism 120′ is in the closedposition 120A′. In contradistinction, according to some embodiments, thetransport mechanism 120′ is in the open position 120C′ when the upperand lower transport-plate assemblies 120 a′, 120 b′ are oriented suchthat the upper and lower transport surfaces 122 a′, 122 b′ are distalfrom one another, and oblique.

With reference to both FIGS. 13A and 13C, the document processing device101′ includes a latch assembly 1330′. According to some embodiments, thelatch assembly 1330′ includes at least one, but desirably two latches,namely a first (or left) latch 1332′ and a second (or right) latch1334′. The two latches 1332′, 1334′ illustrated in FIGS. 13A-13E aredistanced from one another, each positioned at a respective laterallyoutboard side of the upper and lower transport-plate assemblies 120 a′,120 b′ (e.g., at left and right ends with respect to FIGS. 13A and 13B).According to some embodiments, the first latch 1332′ is a mirror imageof the second latch 1334′; accordingly, the configuration of bothlatches 1332′, 1334′ will be described with respect to the left latch1332′.

According to some embodiments, the latch 1332′ includes an elongatedbody 1336′ with an integrally formed release lever 1338′ protrudingtransversely and generally orthogonally in a forward direction from anupper, first end thereof. In addition, as part of another facet of thedisclosed embodiment, the latch 1332′ includes an integrally formedcontrol arm 1342′, which projects transversely and generallyorthogonally from a second, lower end of the latch body 1336′, distalfrom and in the opposite direction of the release lever 1338′. Accordingto some embodiments, a cam-roller 1340′ is rotatably mounted along aninside face of the latch body 1336′, in between the release lever 1338′and control arm 1342′.

According to some embodiments, the latch 1332′ is movably mounted to thehousing 190. In the illustrated embodiment, for example, the latch 1332′is pivotally mounted to a left side-guard plate (visible in FIGS. 2B and2C, and shown in phantom at 1344′ in FIG. 13C) at the lower, second endof the latch body 1336′, which opposes the first end from which therelease lever 1338′ protrudes. According to some embodiments, the latch1332′ is pivotally mounted to the housing 190 to rotate about a firstaxis A1 from a first orientation (also referred to herein as “firstlocking position”, and best seen in FIGS. 13A and 13C), to a secondorientation (also referred to herein as “unlocked position”, and bestseen in FIG. 13D), back to the first orientation (also referred toherein as “second locking position”, and best seen in FIGS. 13B and13E).

According to some embodiments, the latch 1332′ is biased into the firstorientation by a biasing member. In one particular instance, the biasingmember may be in the nature of a helical spring 1352′, as shown in FIG.13C, which is fixed at one end to the housing 190, such as theside-guard plate 1344′, and attached at a second, opposing end to a hook1354′ that protrudes from the second end of the latch body 1336′,adjacent the control arm 1342′. The helical spring 1352′ may apply atensile force to the latch body 1336′ via hook 1354′, thereby acting topull, rotate, or otherwise bias the latch 1332′, 1334′ into the firstorientation shown in FIGS. 13A and 13C.

According to some embodiments, at least one of the transport-plateassemblies 120 a′, 120 b′ is movably mounted to the housing 190. In theillustrated embodiment, for example, the upper transport-plate assembly120 a′ is pivotally mounted at a rearward end thereof to the housing190. In particular, the upper transport-plate assembly 120 a′ is hingedon laterally opposing sides thereof to left and right side-guard plates,such as side-guard plate 1344′ of FIG. 13C. Further by way of example,and not limitation, the upper transport-plate assembly 120 a′ ispivotally mounted to the housing 190 to rotate about a second axis A2(FIG. 13A) from a first, closed position (best seen in FIGS. 13A and13C), to a second, released position (best seen in FIG. 13D), back to athird, open position (best seen in FIGS. 13B and 13E). According to someembodiments, the movable transport-plate assembly 120 a′ and the latch1332′ may be configured to rotate about a similar axis. In accordancewith the displayed arrangement, however, the first axis A1 is generallyparallel to, and offset from the second axis A2. It is contemplated, inaccord with other embodiments, that both the upper and lowertransport-plate assemblies 120 a′, 120 b′ be movably mounted withrespect to the housing 190. According to other embodiments, the lowertransport-plate assembly 120 b′ may be movably mounted to the housing190, while the upper transport-plate assembly 120 a′ is rigidly mountedand, thus, stationary.

Referring to both FIGS. 13A and 13C, when the transport mechanism 120′is in the closed position 120A′, the movable transport-plate assembly120 a′ may be locked in the closed position by the first and secondlatches 1332′, 1334′. By way of example, and not limitation, themoveable latch-plate assembly 120 a′ of FIGS. 13A-13E includes alatch-plate casing 1346′ which generally encloses and operativelyhouses, for example, the rollers and detection means discussedhereinabove. As part of this example, first and second cam surfaces1348′ and 1350′ (best seen in FIG. 13B) are integrally formed with thelatch-plate casing 1348′, projecting generally upwardly from opposing,laterally-outboard ends thereof. When the movable transport-plateassembly 120 a′ is in the closed position, and the latches 1332′, 1334′are in the first locking position (FIG. 13A), each of the cam-rollers1340′ engages with and presses against a respective cam surface 1348′,1350′, applying a generally downward force thereto, as shown in FIG.13C. Only one cam-roller 1340′ and cam surface 1348′ are visible inFIGS. 13A-13C with respect to the left latch 1332′, but an identicalcam-roller 1340′ and cam surface 1350′ interface is present with respectto the right latch 1334′ of FIGS. 13A-13C. According to someembodiments, the biasing members 1352′, absent any external influence,retain the latches 1332′, 1334′ in the first locking position, and thusmaintain the movable transport-plate assembly 120 a′ in the closedposition.

According to some embodiments, the first and second latches 1332′, 1334′may be selectively transitioned into an unlocked position, and themovable upper transport-plate assembly 120 a′ transitioned to a releasedposition contemporaneously therewith. Referring to FIG. 13D, a downwardforce may be applied to the release lever 1338′ of each latch body1336′, urging the latches 1332′, 1334′ in a forward and downward motion,rotating about axis A1 in a generally counter-clockwise direction withrespect to FIG. 13D. As the latches 1332′, 1334′ begin to move from thefirst orientation (FIG. 13C) to the second orientation (FIG. 13D), thecam-rollers 1340′ roll, slide, or otherwise disengage the cam surfaces1348′, 1350′. According to some such embodiments, the movabletransport-plate assembly 120 a′ is unlocked, and thus freely movable,when the cam-rollers 1340′ are fully disengaged from the cam surfaces1348′, 1350′.

As shown in FIGS. 13A-13D, the latch control arm 1342′ operates to push,press, or otherwise urge the unlocked transport-plate assembly 120 a′from the closed position, shown in FIG. 13C, to the released position,as shown in FIG. 13D. In particular, as the right latch 1334′, forexample, begins to rotate, the control arm 1342′ rotates along with theremainder of the latch body 1336′—e.g., in a generally counter-clockwisedirection with respect to FIG. 13D. In so doing, a distal end of thecontrol arm 1342′ engages with and presses against an integrally formedprotrusion 1356′ (best seen in FIG. 13A), which extends laterallyoutward from the latch-plate casing 1346′, thereby rotating thetransport-plate assembly 120 a′ about axis A2 in a generally clockwisedirection with respect to FIG. 13D. According to some embodiments, whenthe movable transport-plate assembly 120 a′ is in the second, releasedposition, each of the cam-rollers 1340′ sits against a respectiveforward roller surface 1360′, 1362′ (FIG. 13D), each of which may beintegrally formed with the latch-plate casing 1346′ adjacent to acorresponding cam surface 1348′, 1350′. As a result of this interplay,the movable transport-plate assembly 120 a′, when in the releasedposition, retains the two latches 1332′, 1334′ in the unlocked position,as shown in FIG. 13D.

According to some embodiments, one or more stop features may beincorporated into the document processing device 101′ design,selectively oriented and configured to prevent the latches 1332′, 1334′from moving or rotating beyond a predetermined point. For example, asshown in FIG. 13C, the head of a bolt 1358′, which may protrude from alaterally outboard surface of the side-guard plate 1344′, acts toobstruct the path of the latch 1332′, and thereby preclude any furthertravel upon contact therewith. According to some embodiments, the bolt1358′ may also be used to fix the biasing member 1352′ to the side-guardplate 1344′.

Referring back to FIGS. 13B and 13E, the movable upper transport-plateassembly 120 a′ may be selectively transitioned to an open position,such as that illustrated in FIGS. 13B and 13E. By way of example, andnot limitation, the application of a generally upward force along anunderside portion of the latch-plate casing 1346′ (or other section ofthe assembly 120 a′) urges or otherwise moves the unlockedtransport-plate assembly 120 a′ from the released position (FIG. 13D) tothe open position (FIG. 13E), for example, by rotating thetransport-plate assembly 120 a′ about axis A2 in a generally clockwisedirection with respect to FIG. 13E. According to some embodiments, thetransport-plate assembly 120 a′ is moved by hand from the unlocked,released position (FIG. 13D) to the locked, open position (FIG. 13E). Itis also contemplated, according to some embodiments, that the movabletransport-plate assembly 120 a′ be selectively biased or urged into theopen position by alternate means, such as, for example, via a springsuch as a leaf spring, a compression spring, or a tension spring, apneumatic cylinder, an electric motor, etc. According to someembodiments, the transport-plate assembly 120 a is moved by hand fromthe unlocked, released position (FIG. 13D) to the open position (FIG.13E).

According to some embodiments, during this transition, the cam-rollers1340′ disengage the right and left roller surfaces 1360′ and 1362′,respectively, releasing the latches 1332′, 1334′ from the unlockedposition depicted in FIG. 13D. After being released, the latches 1332′,1334′ may be moved or biased back into the first orientation, forexample, by the biasing members 1352′, as shown in FIG. 13C. However, insome configurations, such as that shown in FIGS. 13A-13E, left and rightforward-facing interface surfaces 1364′ and 1366′, respectively (FIG.13B), which may be integrally formed with the latch-plate casing 1346′,press against and slide along a respective rearward mating surface 1368′(FIGS. 13C-13E) of each latch body 1336′, whereby the latches 1332′,1334′ are prevented from completing the transition back to the firstorientation until the upper transport-plate assembly 120 a′ reaches itshighest point of travel with respect to the housing 190. It is at thispoint, according to some embodiments, that the transport-plate assembly120 a′ is locked into the open position, with right and leftdownward-facing interface surfaces 1370′ and 1372′, respectively,sitting on and resting against a complementary upper mating surface1374′. As part of this exemplary embodiment, when in the second lockingposition, as shown in FIG. 13E, the latches 1332′, 1334′ secure themovable transport assembly 120 b′ in the open position.

According to some embodiments, the document processing device 101′maintains the same footprint (e.g., the surface area of a floor, desk,or tabletop occupied by the document processing device 101′) regardlessof the position of the transport mechanism 120′. According to someembodiments, the rectangular volume of the document processing device101′ remains unchanged by transitioning the transport mechanism 120′from the closed position 120A′ to the open position 120C′. In regard tothe examples provided above with respect to FIG. 2A, the system heightH₂ may be approximately twelve inches, the width W may be approximatelyfourteen inches, and the depth D may be approximately fifteen inches,providing a rectangular volume of approximately 2,520 in³ (0.04 m³), orless than 1½ ft³. In this example, the rectangular volume of thedocument processing device 101′ would remain approximately 2,520 in³, orless than 1½ ft³, regardless of the position of the transport mechanism120′. According to some embodiments, the overall volume of the housing190 of the document processing device 101′ remains substantiallyunchanged by transitioning the transport mechanism 120′ from the closedposition (FIG. 13A) to the open positions (FIG. 13B).

According to some embodiments, a transport mechanism opening height H₃(FIG. 13E) is at least approximately 4 inches (10. cm). According tosome embodiments, the transport mechanism opening height H₃ (FIG. 13E)is at least approximately 3 inches (7½ cm). According to someembodiments, a ratio of the housing height to a transport mechanismopening height is less than or equal to approximately 3:1. By way ofexplanation, and not limitation, in the first example provided abovewith respect to FIG. 2B, the housing height H₂ may be approximately 12inches (30½ cm) and the transport mechanism opening height H₃ (FIG. 13E)may be approximately 4 inches (10 cm), providing a housing height to atransport mechanism opening height ratio H₂:H₃ of less than or equal toapproximately 3:1. In the second example provided, the housing height H₁may be approximately 9½ inches (24 cm) and the transport mechanismopening height H₃ may be approximately 4 inches (10 cm), providing ahousing height to a transport mechanism opening height ratio H₁:H₃ ofless than or equal to approximately 2½:1. In a similar regard, accordingto some embodiments, a ratio of the transport mechanism opening heightH₃ to a transport mechanism opening depth D₂ (FIG. 13E) may beapproximately 4:5—e.g., the opening height H₃ is approximately 3¾ inches(9½ cm) and the opening depth D2 is approximately 4¾ inches (12 cm) inthe example presented in FIG. 13E.

According to some embodiments, a transport path length between thetransport mechanism opening depth D₂ is about 5 inches (13 cm). That is,a document being transported along the lower transport-plate assembly120 b′ will travel about 5 lineal inches between the transport mechanismopening depth D₂. According to some embodiments, a transport path lengthbetween the transport mechanism opening depth D₂ is at least about 5inches (13 cm). According to some embodiments, the upper transport-plateassembly 120 a′ swings or rotates about pivot point A₁ about 55 degrees.That is, from the closed position (FIG. 13C) to the open position (FIG.13E) the upper transport-plate assembly 120 a′ rotates about 55 degrees.According to some such embodiments, the about 55 degree rotation of theupper transport-plate assembly 120 a′ provides the transport mechanismopening height H3 of about 3¾ inches of the document processing device101′. According to some embodiments, the upper transport-plate assembly120 a′ swings or rotates about pivot point A₁ at least about 30 degrees.

Referring back to FIG. 13E, it is contemplated that according to someembodiments, the upper transport-plate assembly 120 a′ rotates such thatan operator of the document processing device 101′ can access at leastabout 90% of the transport path 1300′ from the front of the documentprocessing device 101′ when the transport mechanism 120′ is in the openposition 102C′. The transport path 1300′ may be defined, according tosome embodiments, as the travel distance from the input receptacle 110′to the output receptacle 130′. The transport path 1300′ may becharacterized according to other embodiments as the travel distance fromthe end of the input path 1316′ to the output receptacle 130′. Accordingto some embodiments, at least about 75% of the transport path 1300′ isaccessible from the front of the document processing device 101′ whenthe transport mechanism 120′ is in the open position 120C′. Yet,according to other embodiments, 60% or more of the transport path 1300′may be accessible from the front of the document processing device 101′when the transport mechanism 120′ is in the open position 120C′. In evenyet other embodiments, an operator of the document processing device101′ may access at least a portion of the input path 1316′ connectingthe transport path 1300′ with the input receptacle 110′ through the gapcreated when the transport mechanism 120′ is in the open position 120C′.According to some embodiments, this may allow an operator to clear apaper jam at the housing-input (e.g., the input path 1316′) from thefront of the document processing device 101′.

According to some embodiments, the transport mechanism 120′ may also betransitioned from the open position 120C′, as shown in FIGS. 13B and13E, through the released position depicted in FIG. 13D, back to theclosed position 120A′ as shown in FIGS. 13A and 13C. In general, thesteps set forth above to open the transport mechanism 120′ may bepracticed in reverse order to close the transport mechanism 120′. Thatis, according to some embodiments, the movable upper transport-plateassembly 120 a′ is first released from the open position as shown inFIGS. 13B and 13D, for example, by pulling or pressing downward on thelatch release levers 1338′, whereby the upper mating surface 1374′ ofeach latch 1332′ is disengaged from a respective downward-facinginterface surface 1370′, 1372′. The intrinsic weight of the uppertransport-plate assembly 120 a′ causes the assembly 120 a′ to move tothe second, released position, as shown in FIG. 13D, for example,rotating about axis A2 in a generally counter-clockwise direction withrespect to FIGS. 13D and 13E. It is also contemplated, according toother embodiments, that the movable transport-plate assembly 120 a′ isbiased or urged into the second position, for instance, via a springsuch as a leaf spring, a compression spring, or a tension spring, or apneumatic cylinder. During this transition, the cam-rollers 1340′reengage the right and left roller surfaces 1360′ and 1362′,respectively, urging the latches 1332′, 1334′ into the unlockedposition, as shown in FIG. 13D.

According to some embodiments, the movable transport-plate assembly 120a′ may then be selectively transitioned to the closed position, such asillustrated in FIGS. 13A and 13C. By way of example, and not limitation,the application of a generally downward force (such as by hand, motor,spring, etc.) along an upper portion of the latch-plate casing 1346′ (orother section of the assembly 120 b′) urges or otherwise moves thetransport-plate assembly 120 a′ from the released position (FIG. 13D) tothe closed position (FIG. 13C), for example, by rotating thetransport-plate assembly 120 a′ about axis A2 in a generallycounter-clockwise direction with respect to FIGS. 13C-13E. According tosome embodiments, each casing protrusion 1356′ then engages with andpresses against the distal end of a respective control arm 1342′,thereby forcing the latches 1332′, 1334′, for example, to rotate in agenerally clockwise direction with respect to FIGS. 13C and 13D, to thefirst locked position. In addition, or as an alternative thereto, eachbiasing member 1352′ may apply a tensile force to the latch body 1336′via hook 1354′, thereby acting to pull, rotate, or otherwise bias thelatches 1332′, 1334′ into the first orientation, as shown in FIGS. 13Aand 13C.

As noted above, according to some embodiments, when the transportmechanism 120′ is moved into the closed position 120A′, the movabletransport-plate assembly 120 a′ may be locked in the closed position bythe first and second latches 1332′, 1334′. In the illustratedembodiment, when the movable transport-plate assembly 120 a′ is in theclosed position, and the latches 1332′, 1334′ are moved into the firstlocking position (FIG. 13A), each of the cam-rollers 1340′ engages withand presses against a respective cam surface 1348′, 1350′, applying agenerally downward force thereto, as shown in FIG. 13C. The biasingmembers 1352′ act to retain the latches 1332′, 1334′ in the firstlocking position, and thus, maintain the movable transport-plateassembly 120 a′ in the closed position.

According to some embodiments, a precision gap is maintained between theupper transport-plate assembly 120 a′ and the lower transport-plateassembly 120 b′ when the transport mechanism 120′ is in the closedposition 120A′. Without limitation, the downward force created by theinterface between the cam-rollers 1340′ and cam surfaces 1348′, 1350′acts to engage and maintain a precision interface between an uppertransport-plate spacer surface 1376′ (most clearly visible in FIG. 13C)and a lower transport-plate spacer surface 1378′ (FIG. 13C). Accordingto some aspects, the upper and lower spacer surfaces 1376′, 1378′ areprecision-formed to provide a predetermined, optimal gap between theupper and lower transport-plate assemblies 120 a′, 120 b′ when thetransport mechanism 120′ is in the closed position 120A′.

According to some embodiments, the optimal gap is about 0.030 inches (30mils). According to some embodiments, the optimal gap is at least about0.030 inches (30 mils). According to some embodiments, the optimal gapis about 0.035 inches (35 mils). According to some embodiments, theoptimal gap is at least about 0.035 inches (35 mils). According to someembodiments, the optimal gap is at least about 0.060 inches (60 mils).According to some embodiments, the optimal gap is at least about 0.090inches (90 mils). According to some embodiments, the optimal gap isbetween about 0.030 inches (30 mils) and about 0.040 inches (40 mils).According to some embodiments, the optimal gap is maintained with nomore than at least about a five percent deviance along the transportpath. That is, for an optimal gap of 30 mils, the gap is no more thanfive percent greater than 30 mils and no less than five percent lessthan 30 mils along the transport path. According to some embodiments,the optimal gap is maintained with no more than at least about a tenpercent deviance along the transport path.

Any of the methods described herein can include machine readableinstructions for execution by: (a) a processor, (b) a controller, and/or(c) any other suitable processing device. It will be readily understoodthat the document processing system 100, the document processing devices101, 101′, 101 a, 101 b, 400, the image scanner 140, the controller 150,the computer 151, and/or the first and the second computer 450 a,b caninclude such a suitable processing device. Any algorithm, software, ormethod disclosed herein can be embodied in software stored on a tangiblemedium such as, for example, a flash memory, a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, ahard drive, a digital versatile disk (DVD), or other memory devices, butpersons of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that theentire algorithm and/or parts thereof could alternatively be executed bya device other than a controller and/or embodied in firmware ordedicated hardware in a well known manner (e.g., it may be implementedby an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmablelogic device (PLD), a field programmable logic device (FPLD), discretelogic, etc.). Further, although specific algorithms are described withreference to flowcharts depicted herein, persons of ordinary skill inthe art will readily appreciate that many other methods of implementingthe example machine readable instructions may alternatively be used. Forexample, the order of execution of the blocks may be changed, and/orsome of the blocks described may be changed, eliminated, or combined.

Document Processing Device Operations in a Financial Institution System

Now referring to FIGS. 14-17, block diagrams of bank and/or financialinstitution related systems 1400, 1500, 1600, 1700 are shown. Each ofthe systems 1400, 1500, 1600, and 1700 includes one or more documentprocessing devices 1410 a-c, 1510, 1610, 1710 configured to generateimage data and/or deposit information associated with documents beingdeposited into, for example, a financial institution such as a bank.

Referring to FIG. 14, according to some embodiments, multiple documentprocessing devices 1410 a,b,c are communicatively connected or coupledto respective teller terminals 1420 a,b,c. The teller terminals 1420a,b,c are in turn communicatively connected with a teller system 1430.As illustrated, a first document processing device 1410 a, such as, forexample, the document processing device 101, 101′ described above in theDocument Processing Device and System Section and in connection withFIGS. 1, 2A-2C, and in other sections of the present disclosure, iscommunicatively connected to a first teller terminal 1420 a, which inturn is communicatively connected to the teller system 1430. Otherdocument processing devices, such as, for example, document processingdevices 1410 b and 1410 c, can be similarly communicatively connected orcoupled to other respective teller terminals, such as, for example,teller terminals 1420 b and 1420 c, all within the same financialinstitution system 1400.

According to some embodiments, each document processing device 1410a,b,c is communicatively connected or coupled to a database 1440 withinthe financial institution system 1400 that stores information and/ordata. According to some embodiments, the database 1440 stores aplurality of data files and/or records associated with a plurality oftransactions. The data files and/or records are the same as, or similarto the data files and the records described above in the DocumentRecords and Data Files Section and in connection with FIGS. 3A-3E, andin other sections of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices 1410a,b,c are each configured to process batches of documents to generaterespective data files, as described, for example, in the DocumentProcessing Device and System Section, in the Optical CharacterRecognition Section, and in other sections of the presentdisclosure—each data file being associated with a single transaction.According to some embodiments, each data file includes a record for eachdocument included in the respective batch of documents. Each record caninclude a variety of information and/or images such as described abovein the Document Records and Data Files Section and in connection withFIGS. 3A-3E, and in other sections of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, the data files and/or records are storedin and retrievable from the database 1440. As illustrated in theexemplary embodiment of FIG. 14, the 1440 database includes a pluralityof data files 1442, 1444, 1446, where each data file is associated witha respective transaction, such as, for example, transaction #1, #2, . .. #N, respectively. Additionally, as shown, according to someembodiments, each data file 1442, 1444, 1446 includes a visuallyreadable image of each document included in the batch of documentsassociated with the respective transaction. According to someembodiments, each visually readable image is contained in a recordincluded in the respective data file. It is contemplated that accordingto some embodiments, each record further includes deposit and/ortransaction information (not shown) along with the image of therespective document such as described in the Document Records and DataFiles Section and in connection with FIGS. 3A-3E, and in other sectionsof the present disclosure. According to some embodiments, the depositand/or transaction information is extracted from one or more of thedocuments in the batch of documents in the same, or similar, manner asdescribed in the Optical Character Recognition Section, and in othersections of the present disclosure. The first data file 1442, that isassociated with the first transaction, includes a deposit documentrecord 1442 a (e.g., a deposit slip), a check record 1442 b, and twocurrency bill records 1442 c,d. Although not illustrated, each of therecords 1442 a-d can further include deposit and/or transactioninformation. According to some embodiments, the records 1442 a-d alsoinclude information obtained from the processed documents, such as, forexample, determined denominations of currency bills, extracted serialnumbers of currency bills, etc. According to some embodiments, therecords 1442 a-d include information obtained from the processeddocuments and/or deposit information and/or transactional informationbut do not include image data and/or images of the processed documents.

According to some embodiments, the database 1440 can be communicativelyconnected or coupled in a bi-directional manner with each of thedocument processing devices 1410 a,b,c, a proof of deposit system 1460,an accounting system 1450, and/or teller system 1430. Such anarchitecture allows any of the devices/systems connected to the database1440 to electronically access and review the data files and/or recordscontained therein. Additional unidirectional or bidirectionalcommunication can occur through connections between the teller system1430 and the accounting system 1450, and between the accounting system1450 and the proof of deposit system 1460.

According to some embodiments, the system 1400 includes a transit checkclearing system 1470 that is configured to receive clearing information,such as, for example, check records and/or image data associated withchecks, from the proof of deposit system 1460, to clear checks drawn onoutside financial institutions. According to some embodiments, the proofof deposit system 1460 is part of an item processing system, such as theitem processing system described in the Electronic Portion of DepositTransaction Section and in connection with FIGS. 4A and 4B, and in othersections of the present disclosure.

Referring generally to FIGS. 14-17, according to some embodiments, thedocument processing devices illustrated in FIGS. 14-17 can bestand-alone units for each teller terminal, a single device associatedwith several or all of the teller terminals, or as an all-in-onecombined device including teller terminal elements and documentprocessing device components. According to some embodiments, tellersystems and associated teller terminals can include a teller window, avault system, an automatic teller machine (ATM) system, a home bankingsystem, a depositor cash management system, a night teller, and/or alock box. Additionally, according to some embodiments, the communicationconnections illustrated in FIGS. 14-17 may be local area networks (LAN),metropolitan area networks (MAN), or wide area network (WAN) or othernetworks including wired and/or wireless networks such as those known inthe art.

In certain embodiments, the document processing devices and systemsillustrated in FIGS. 14-17 are part of a vault system. The vault systemcan include hardware and software which processes the amount and type ofcurrency and/or documents entering or leaving a bank vault. Asillustrated in FIGS. 14-17, the document processing devices can also bea part of a teller system which is used to process documents, coin, andcurrency at a teller window(s) and maintains a record of all types ofdocuments, currency, and coin transactions at the teller window. It isunderstood that additional or fewer document processing devices and/orteller terminals may be present in any of the systems 1400, 1500, 1600,1700.

According to some embodiments, the teller systems can be bank branchsystems in a bank branch, or a cash vault system in a bank vault. Thecash vault system can include a cash management feature that tracks eachdenomination of currency in the vault, which allows the vault to trackhow much total currency is present in the vault by denomination. Such acash management system can be used by the vault to determine a quantityof each denomination of currency bills that can be deposited with, forexample, the Federal Reserve Bank, while maintaining enough cash in thevault for servicing the immediate needs of the vault's customers.According to some embodiments, the cash management feature can be usedto track currency at an ATM, sometimes called a virtual teller, at abank vault, at a bank branch, at the Federal Reserve, etc. According tosome embodiments, a virtual teller is an ATM that includes imagingcapabilities.

Referring back to FIG. 14, according to some embodiments, a bankcustomer makes a deposit of documents into a bank account maintained orheld at the financial institution associated with system 1400. Accordingto some embodiments, the accounting system 1450 maintains detailedphysical and/or electronic records of all customer accounts at thefinancial institution, including, for example, account balances,customer identification information, etc. Additionally, according tosome embodiments, records in the accounting system 1450 can beautomatically and/or manually updated following clearance of relatedtransactions through the proof of deposit system 1460.

According to some embodiments, a deposit transaction is conductedbetween a customer and a bank. For example, the customer deposits acheck, a $10 bill and a $20 bill. The customer may also give a teller adeposit document, such as a deposit slip, or the teller may create oneor more deposit documents for the customer. According to someembodiments, a deposit slip can include information such as a customeraccount number, a total declared deposit amount, a total number ofdocuments being deposited, a check deposit amount, a number of checksbeing deposited, a currency bill deposit amount, a number of eachdenomination of currency bill being deposited, a breakdown of each checkand its amount, a cashout amount, or any combination thereof. Thus, abatch of documents is formed that is associated with the deposittransaction and includes a deposit document, a check, a $10 bill, and a$20 bill.

According to some embodiments, the batch of documents is processed bydocument processing device 1410 a and a record for each of the documents1442 a,b,c,d in the batch of documents that is associated with thetransaction between the bank and the customer is generated. According tosome such embodiments, each one of the records includes image data thatis reproducible as at least a portion of a visually readable image ofone of the documents 1442 a,b,c,d. According to some embodiments, therecords are transmitted and stored in the database 1440 as data file1442 (transaction #1). It is contemplated that according to someembodiments, the data file 1442 includes other deposit and/ortransaction information, such as, for example, a date/time of thetransaction, the customer's account number, teller information (e.g., ateller identifier of the teller processing the batch of documents withthe device 1410 a), a transaction identifier, etc.

According to some embodiments, customer account numbers of customerstransacting financial business (e.g., withdrawing money, depositingcurrency bills and/or checks) with the financial institution are neededsuch that the financial institution can track and/or maintain a runningrecord of each customer's account balance in, for example, theaccounting system 1450. Customer account numbers can be entered into thesystems 1400, 1500, 1600, 1700 in a variety of manners and at a varietyof locations using various devices and/or systems contained in therespective systems 1400, 1500, 1600, 1700.

For example, according to some embodiments, a teller operating one ofthe teller terminals 1420 a,b,c can enter a customer's account numbervia an input device (e.g., keyboard, touch screen) at the tellerterminal 1420 a,b,c. According to some embodiments, for example, inresponse to a teller entering a customer account number at tellerterminal 1420 a, the customer account number is automaticallytransmitted to document processing device 1410 a. According to some suchembodiments, in response to receiving the customer account number, thedevice 1410 a is configured to automatically display a prompt to theteller indicating that the device 1410 a is initiated and ready toprocess documents associated with the inputted customer account number.That is, the device indicated that the teller can insert a batch ofdocuments to be deposited and/or withdrawn from the customer's account.

In response to receiving the batch of documents, the device 1410 agenerates image data and/or other information as described herein in theDocument Processing Device Operations in a Financial Institution SystemSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure. According tosome embodiments, in response to document processing being completed,the customer account number, generated image data, extracted data,and/or other information is transmitted to the database as a data file1442 a containing records 1442 a-d for storage therein.

According to some embodiments, a teller operating one of the devices1410 a,b,c inserts a batch of documents into the device and the device,for example, the device 1410 a automatically extracts accountinformation (e.g., customer account number) from an image of a depositslip, automatically transmits the account information to the tellerterminal, e.g., 1420 a, and populates a customer-account-number fieldassociated with the teller terminal 1420 a with the account information.According to some such embodiments, an account number on a deposit slipis MICR encoded, barcoded, or otherwise machine readable encoded and thedevice 1410 a comprises an appropriate sensor(s) to read the accountnumber on the deposit slip such as a MICR reader, a barcode reader etc.According to some such embodiments, the appropriate sensor(s) arepositioned adjacent to a document transport path of device 1410 a andthe device reads the account number from the deposit slip as the depositslip is being transported through the device. According to someembodiments, the device 1410 a is configured to read the account numberfrom the deposit slip using one or more of the OCR algorithms and/ortechniques, such as those described in the Optical Character RecognitionSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, a teller operating one of the devices1410 a,b,c enters a customer's account number at one of the devices 1410a,b,c via an input device, such as, for example, a keyboard, a touchscreen, a barcode reader/scanner, a magnetic scanner, and/or a MICRreader. According to some embodiments, in response to the customeraccount number being entered into the document processing device, theaccount number is automatically associated with documents inputted intoan input receptacle of the device for processing. That is, all recordsgenerated after receiving the customer account number are tagged withthe customer account number until another customer account number isentered. According to some embodiments, the entered customer accountnumber is automatically transmitted to a teller terminal, such as tellerterminal 1420 a, and populated into a customer-account-number field onthe teller terminal 1420 a. According to some such embodiments, depositinformation, such as a total deposit amount and/or withdrawal amount, istransmitted along with the customer account number to the tellerterminal to be forwarded onto the accounting system 1450 to update thecustomer's account to reflect the transaction.

According to some embodiments, a customer account number and/or customeridentifier is received through one or more devices communicativelyconnected with a teller terminal and/or a document processing device.For example, a biometric reader, a card reader (e.g., ATM card reader),and/or a personal identification number (PIN) input device (e.g.,keypad) can be communicatively connected to the teller terminal and/orthe device such that in response to a customer, for example, entering aPIN into the PIN input device, the customer's account number istransmitted and/or otherwise communicated to the teller terminal and/orthe document processing device. For another example, in response to acustomer, for example, placing his/her finger on the biometric reader,the customer's account number is transmitted and/or otherwisecommunicated to the teller terminal and or device. According to someembodiments, the customer account number can then be associated with oneor more data files in the same, or similar, manner described above.

According to some embodiments, a feature of the systems 1400, 1500,1600, 1700 described herein includes an account number and/or atransaction identifier associated with a transaction that is onlyentered once by a teller, whether such entry occurs manually, such as,for example, by typing the account number, or automatically, such as,for example, by extracting the account number from a deposit slip orother document associated with the account number or transactionidentifier inputted into the document processing device. According tosome alternative embodiments, an account number may be entered more thanonce, for example, a teller may enter an account number via tellerterminal 1420 a-c as well as device 1410 a-c.

According to some embodiments, a teller manually enters depositinformation into the teller terminal. In other embodiments, the depositinformation is extracted from image data associated with one or moredeposit documents and automatically populated into respective fields onthe teller terminal. For example, the deposit documents may be placed bythe teller into the document processing device which is configured toimage and extract deposit information from the documents such as, forexample, a total declared check amount and/or a total cash-in amount inthe same, or similar, manner as described in the Optical CharacterRecognition Section, and in other sections of the present disclosure.According to some embodiments, the teller system is configured to send amemo posting or a provisional credit to the accounting system based onthe inputted or automatically extracted deposit information.

According to some embodiments, the database 1440 is accessed by anoptical character recognition system (OCR system), such as, for example,a CAR/LAR system, that is configured to OCR courtesy amounts (CAR)and/or a legal amounts (LAR) from each check record in the database1440. It is contemplated that the OCR system is part of a proof ofdeposit system (POD) that automatically attempts to balance/reconciledata files/transactions stored in the database 1440. According to someembodiments, extracted CAR/LAR information is transmitted to thedatabase 1440 and stored in the appropriate document record.

According to some embodiments, a teller enters an account number viateller terminal 1420 a-c and the device 1410 a-c determines the accountnumber from a document (e.g., deposit slip) it processes such as byreading machine readable code via an appropriate sensor (e.g., MICRreader, barcode reader) and/or reading extracting the account numberfrom the image of the document such as via OCR. According to suchembodiments, the account number determined by the device 1410 a-c isincluded with the data obtained by processing the remainder of theprocessed documents (e.g., bills and checks). For example, the recordfor each document processed can be tagged with the account numberdetermined by the device 1410 a-c (e.g., each record and/or thetransaction data file can have an account number field that is populatedwith the determined account number). According to some embodiments, theteller terminal 1420 a-c and/or the device 1410 a-c compare the accountnumber entered by the teller and the account number determined by thedevice to verify that the account numbers are the same and generate anerror signal when they are not.

According to some embodiments, in processing a deposit transaction, ateller enters the appropriate customer account number into a tellerterminal 1420 a-c. The teller then processes the documents associatedwith the deposit transaction using one of the document processingdevices 1410 a-c and the device 1410 a-c images the documents, extractsinformation from the images such as currency bill serial numbers, andgenerates corresponding records. The device 1410 a-c also generatesand/or associates a unique ID number, such as a transaction identifier,for the deposit transaction and sends the unique ID number to the tellerterminal 1420 a-c/teller system 1430. The teller system 1430 and/oraccounting system 1450 then associates the unique ID number with thecustomer account number entered into the teller terminal 1420 a-c andstores this association in a memory in or communicatively coupled to theteller system 1430 and/or accounting system 1450. The device 1410 a-cassociates the generated images and records with the unique ID numberand stores them where they can be accessed by the teller system 1430and/or accounting system 1450 such as in database 1440. In such anembodiment, the customer account number need not be entered into thedevice 1410 a-c and/or shared with the device 1410 a-c and/or thecomputer systems (e.g., databases) which can be accessed by or throughthe devices 1410 a-c. Nonetheless, a deposited document can still betraced back to a particular account at a later time.

For example, if it is later discovered that a bill that is in or was inthe bank's possession is a counterfeit bill, a search based on theserial number of such a counterfeit bill could be performed as describedabove. If the search is performed via the teller system 1430 oraccounting system 1450, such system could access the appropriatedatabase such as database 1440, find the record having the matchingserial number, retrieve the unique ID number associated with thatrecord, and then determine the appropriate customer account number byaccessing the memory which stores the associations between unique IDnumbers and customer account numbers. If the search is performed via oneof the devices 1410 a-c, such a device 1410 a-c could access theappropriate database such as database 1440, find the record having thematching serial number, retrieve the unique ID number associated withthat record, and then provide or report the unique ID number such as bydisplaying the unique ID number via interface 170/170′ and/or providingthe unique ID number electronically to the system (e.g., teller terminal1420 a-c) initiating the search. A search for the corresponding customeraccount number could then be performed via the teller system 1430 oraccounting system 1450 by inputting the unique ID number into such asystem, accessing the memory which stores the associations betweenunique ID numbers and customer account numbers, and retrieving thecorresponding customer account number. The corresponding customeraccount could then be debited for the amount of the counterfeit billand/or a charge-back signal or instruction could be generated.

According to some embodiments, a teller inserts a batch of documentsassociated with a deposit transaction into the input receptacle of oneof the document processing devices 1410 a-c. The batch of documentscomprises a deposit slip, a plurality of checks, and a plurality ofcurrency bills. The device 1410 a-c processes the documents andgenerates an electronic cash-in ticket reflecting information relatingto the plurality of currency bills deposited such as a total cash-inamount and/or a breakdown by denomination of the number of eachdenomination of bill deposited. According to some embodiments, theelectronic cash-in ticket is then printed by a printer communicativelycoupled to the device 1410 a-c. According to some embodiments, theprinted cash-in ticket is then stored in the teller's drawer along withthe deposited currency bills. According to some embodiments, theelectronic cash-in ticket is not printed. According to some embodiments,the electronic cash-in ticket is associated with the electronicrecord(s) of the deposit transaction such as being included as a cash-inrecord in the data file associated with the deposit transaction.

Referring to FIG. 15, an embodiment similar to FIG. 14 is shown withseveral modifications. Similar to FIG. 14 system 1500 includes multipleteller terminals 1520 a,b,c communicatively connected or coupled to ateller system 1530. Furthermore, system 1500 includes an accountingsystem 1550, a proof of deposit system 1560, and a transit checkclearing system 1570. However, instead of having a document processingdevice at each teller terminal, FIG. 15 has a common document processingdevice 1510 configured to accept documents 1512 from any telleroperating one of the teller terminals 1520 a-c. The document processingdevice 1510 may or may not be communicatively connected or coupled tothe teller terminals 1520 a,b,c. Furthermore, the document processingdevice 1510 can be communicatively connected or coupled to one or moredatabases, such as database #1 1540 and/or database #2 1541.

In addition, system 1500 also includes various personal computer and/orother computer terminal connections, such as customer PC 1555, inquiryPC #1 1549, and inquiry PC #2 1565, which are communicatively connectedand configured to gain access to information contained in the accountingsystem 1550, database #1 1540, database #2 1541, and proof of depositsystem 1560, respectively, or otherwise. According to some embodiments,such communication connections permit, for example, a customer to accesstheir account information and/or deposit transactions or a lawenforcement agency to access currency bill information for suspect billtracking purposes.

According to some embodiments, database #1 1540 is configured to storeand allow retrieval of records including information or data and/orimages of deposit transaction related documents including, for example,a deposit slip record 1542 a, a check record 1542 b, and a cash-inticket record 1542 c. According to some embodiments, a second database,database #2 1541, separately stores records including images of currencybills deposited and/or withdrawn for a transaction, including atransaction that included a check deposit. For example, as illustrated,data file 1542 associated with transaction #1 includes both a checkrecord 1542 b and cash with associated currency bill records 1543 a, b,c, d. According to some embodiments, the databases 1540, 1541 arecommunicatively connected and may be maintained by the same or separateentities, such as a bank, law enforcement agency, or a third-party.

Referring to FIG. 16, an embodiment similar to FIG. 15 is shown withseveral differences. In FIG. 16 the elements of the financialinstitution transaction system 1600 are all configured forcommunications through a network 1601 that may comprise a local areanetwork, a wide area network, or combinations thereof, including theInternet and/or intranet-based systems. Furthermore, records and datafiles, such as, for example, the records and data files disclosed in theDocument Records and Data Files Section and in FIGS. 3A-3E, and in othersections of the present disclosure, received via one or more documentprocessing device(s) 1610 for transaction-related documents 1612 can bestored and retrieved via various configurations of database options1640, 1680, 1685, 1690. Similar to FIG. 15, the system 1600 includes ateller system 1630 with teller terminals 1620 a,b,c, an accountingsystem 1650, a proof of deposit system 1660, a check clearing system1670, and an inquiry terminal 1655. The various database options 1640,1680, 1685, 1690 provide exemplary configurations for storing data suchas records associated with imaged documents.

For example, database option #1 1640 illustrates a database similar todatabase #1 1540 from system 1500 with multiple data files includingdata file 1642 associated with transaction #1 through data file 1648associated with transaction #N in which each data file includes adeposit slip record 1642 a, check records 1642 b, and/or cash in/outticket record(s) 1644 associated with a transaction. In certainembodiments, a configuration similar to database option #2 1685 can beused in which deposit slip records 1686 a, cash records 1686 b, andcheck records 1686 c are stored together for a transaction 1686. In yetother embodiments, such as database option #3 1680, cash or currencybill records 1682 are stored separately from check records. It is alsocontemplated that in certain embodiments, such as database option #41690, it may be desirable to store records having images and informationfor each imaged currency bill, such as images 1692 a, 1694 a, 1696 a andthen tag or associate transaction identification information 1692 b,1692 c, 1694 b, 1694 c, 1696 b with each bill record as it is imaged bydocument processing device(s) 1610 communicatively connected to network1601 and located at various financial institution or retail locations.

Referring to FIG. 17, a further modified version of the embodimentsillustrated in FIGS. 14-16 is shown. System 1700 in FIG. 17 may bedesirable because the operations and/or processes of a teller systemwith teller terminals and a proof of deposit system are consolidatedinto a single document processing device 1710, which is communicativelyconnected to a database 1740, an accounting system 1750, and a transitcheck clearing system 1770.

According to some embodiments, a teller or other user places a pluralityof documents including, for example, one or more deposit documents,checks, and/or currency bills, into document processing device 1710which images the documents 1715 to generate image data, processes theimage data 1720 to extract desired information from the documents forthe transaction along with determining various transaction specificinformation such as a transaction identifier and generates records foreach document processed. According to some embodiments, the documentprocessing device performs proof of deposit operations 1760 includingvarious CAR/LAR operations for transactions involving checks. The proofof deposit 1760 operation is similar to the operations performed by theproof of deposit system 1460, 1560, 1660 in FIGS. 14-16.

The database 1740 shown in system 1700 is configured to store andretrieve transaction-related information such as data files 1742, 1744,1746. As shown in the data file 1742 associated with transaction #1, thedata file includes a deposit slip record 1742 a, a cash record 1742 b,and a check record 1742 c. It is contemplated that in certainembodiments, other database configurations are included in the system1700 such as illustrated for or discussed in connection with systems1400, 1500, or 1600.

According to some embodiments, the systems 1400, 1500, 1600, 1700 can beconfigured as described below. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing devices 1410, 1510, 1610 can populate forms and/orfields existing on the teller terminal with information and/or imagedata related to a transaction, the information including, for example, acustomer account number and/or extracted data and records includingimages of processed documents and/or portions of images of the documents(e.g., snippet images of serial number, back plate number, etc.). It isalso contemplated that the customer account number associated with thetransaction may also be entered via an interface on the documentprocessing device 1410, 1510, 1610 or via the teller terminals 1420,1520, 1620 or via teller system 1430, 1530, 1630. The transactiondocuments may then be imaged, the deposit information/records generated,and the account number associated with the data file. The depositinformation/records or data file may then be transmitted to the tellersystem 1430, 1530, 1630. In the embodiment of system 1700, all theseoperations may occur directly on the document processing device 1710. Incertain embodiments, the teller terminal 1420, 1520, 1620 may beconfigured to transmit the account number information associated with atransaction to the document processing device 1410, 1510, 1610. In otherembodiments, the account number information associated with a specifictransaction may be extracted from a deposit slip processed by thedocument processing device 1410, 1510, 1610, 1710. The extracted accountnumber may then be transmitted to the teller terminal 1410, 1510, 1610and teller system 1430, 1530, 1630. In certain embodiments, such as insystem 1700, the deposit may be proofed directly on the documentprocessing device 1710 with a final credit transmitted to the accountingsystem 1750, or if the deposit does not balance, to a display associatedwith the document processing device 1710. It is contemplated that ineach of the embodiments described herein that transaction-relateddocuments such as deposit slips, checks, cash, other financialinstruments, or combinations thereof may be processed on the documentprocessing device 1410, 1510, 1610, 1710. It is further contemplatedthat non-cash related document data (e.g., check images) can betransmitted to the proof of deposit systems 1460, 1560, 1660 forbalancing and that cash records are transmitted to one or more databasesfor storage and subsequent retrieval.

It is contemplated that in certain embodiments either the tellerterminals 1420, 1520, 1620 or the document processing devices 1410,1510, 1610, 1710 may display or otherwise signal a system user with aprompt for inserting various documents or information into the documentprocessing device. For example, a separate prompt may be provided forinserting a deposit slip, cash, checks, or combinations thereof. Asanother example, a prompt may be provided for inserting a deposit slipwith a second prompt for inserting a sorted batch of documents or anintermingled batch of documents including, for example, currency billsand checks. In another example, a single prompt may be provided forinserting a stack of documents including a deposit slip, currency bills,checks, or any combination thereof. It is contemplated that a user mayneed to provide an input to the system following the prompt for thedocument processing device to proceed. In other embodiments, thedocument processing device may proceed automatically once the requestedor prompted documents are placed into an input receptacle of thedocument processing device.

Further exemplary embodiments of systems 1400, 1500, 1600, or 1700,include manually entering an account number for a transaction ortransmitting or directly entering an account number to the documentprocessing device via an input device. An account number for atransaction can also be entered into a teller-based system via, forexample, a teller terminal which then transmits the account number tothe document processing device. Records generated from documentsreceived in the document processing device can then be tagged orotherwise associated with the account number for a particulartransaction. In another embodiment, a deposit slip may be encoded orimprinted with an account number using a MICR line, bar code, or othermachine readable code. Such a deposit slip can be imaged and processedby the document processing device as yet another way of obtaining anaccount number for a transaction, for example, extracting the accountnumber from the image of the deposit slip. Alternatively, other inputdevices communicatively connected or coupled to and forming part of ateller terminal and/or document processing device such as MICR readersand barcode readers can be employed to read the account number on adocument such as a deposit slip.

According to some embodiments, it is contemplated that a documentprocessing device is configured to process different documents atdifferent document processing speeds. For example, the documentprocessing device may image and extract account information from imagedata associated with a deposit slip. The account information may be inthe form of an image of the MICR line traditionally found on checks orchecking account deposit slips. The imaging and processing of thedeposit slip may occur at a slower speed than the imaging and processingof currency bills and/or checks associated with the deposit. Thus, auser of the system 1400, 1500, 1600, 1700 may first be prompted toinsert the deposit slips which will be imaged and processed at a firstprocessing speed (e.g., 100 documents per minute, 150 documents perminute, 300 documents per minute, 600 documents per minute). Once thedeposit slip is imaged and processed the user can then be prompted toinsert subsequent transaction documents such as currency bills such asU.S. currency bills which may be imaged and processed at higher speeds(e.g., 800 documents per minute, 1000 documents per minute, 1200documents per minutes, 2400 documents per minute). According to someembodiments, the document processing device prompts the operator toselect or depress a key (e.g., a CONT key) after the currency bills havebeen inserted into the document processing device and the documentprocessing device begins processing the currency bills at the higherrate of speed (e.g., 1000 bills per minute) when such a key has beenselected or depressed. According to some embodiments, the documentprocessing device is configured to detect when a stack of documents isinserted into its input receptacle and automatically begins to operateupon detecting that documents (e.g., a stack of currency bills) havebeen inserted into its input receptacle. The user may also be promptedto insert checks which may be imaged and processed at yet another speed(e.g., 200 documents per minute, 300 documents per minute, 600 documentsper minute). It is also contemplated that in certain embodiments thatthe document processing device can sense the type of document that isreceived in an input receptacle and may automatically adjust imaging andprocessing speeds according to the document type.

It is contemplated that in certain embodiments, the document processingdevice(s) of systems 1400, 1500, 1600, is(are) the same as, or similarto, the document processing device(s) 101, 101′ described in FIGS. 1 and2A-2C and elsewhere in the present disclosure.

As illustrated in FIG. 14, each teller terminal 1420 a,b,c iscommunicatively connected or coupled to a teller system, which can beconfigured to allow access to the database 1440. The teller system 1430is also configured to connect with the accounting system 1450 associatedwith a financial institution system 1400.

By “accounting system,” it is meant to include the hardware and softwareassociated with accessing, maintaining, tracking, and updating savingsaccounts, checking accounts, credit card accounts, business andcommercial loans, consumer payments, and/or all other similar accountsat locations remotely located or located within the network of thedocument processing device. The term “accounting system” includes threebroad types of systems: systems where deposits are made; systems wherewithdrawals are made; and systems where both deposits and withdrawalsare made. Although the accounting system described herein is describedas being employed at a financial institution such as a bank, it isunderstood that any business, public or private institution, orindividual can employ an accounting system to process transactions.

After a customer makes a deposit with a teller, such as the depositillustrated through the data file 1442 associated with transaction #1 inthe database 1440, the teller system 1430 may transmit a temporary entryto the accounting system 1450 to update the customers account balance toreflect the deposit. In addition, a proof of deposit system 1460 isconfigured to proof the deposit transactions stored in the database 1440and to transmit or make available information associated with transitchecks for clearing to the transit check clearing system 1470. The proofof deposit system can have bi-directional communication with theaccounting system 1450 and will eventually clear the temporary entry orprovisional credit in the accounting system upon the proof of anassociated deposit. As illustrated in FIG. 14, the system 1400 can beconfigured such that the teller system 1430 and the accounting system1450 has unidirectional or bi-directional communication with thedatabase 1440.

A proof of deposit system (e.g., 1460, 1560, 1660, 1760) is a softwareand/or hardware unit for proof-of-deposit (“POD”) processing. PODprocessing ensures that for a given transaction, debits equal credits.POD processing can also include courtesy amount recognition (“CAR”) andlegal amount recognition (“LAR”) processing. Such CAR/LAR processing canbe performed within the POD system or POD operations. It is alsocontemplated that the CAR/LAR operations on checks and/or deposit slipscan also be performed external to the POD system, such as on a separatesystem or within the document processing device. For example, CAR/LARoperations and/or POD operations can be performed internally to orexternally from the document processing device.

It is contemplated that in certain embodiments, that the documentprocessing device and teller terminal operations/features may be a partof an automated teller machine system. It is also contemplated that incertain embodiments that the proof of deposit may be included in thedocument processing device, such as, for example, as shown in FIG. 17 aselements 1710, 1760.

It is contemplated that in certain embodiments of the systems 1400,1500, 1600, 1700, that a transaction identification number or code istagged or associated with each record and/or data file associated with aparticular deposit or withdrawal transaction. This transactionidentifier can be useful in various exemplary situations. For example,to match up a transaction when a group of checks and a separate group ofcurrency bills are processed according to a sorted-group mode ofoperation in a document processing device as described herein in theDefinitions Section, and in other sections of the present disclosure. Itcan also be useful when checks, other financial documents, and currencybills are stored and/or retrieved from separate databases, such as, forexample, as shown in FIGS. 15 and 16. The transaction identifierassociated with record and/or data file can then be used to associateall of the documents associated with the particular deposit orwithdrawal transaction. The transaction identifier or code can beassigned by the document processing device or it can be received throughinput into the document processing device, or combinations thereof. Thetransaction identifier or code can be a number or code different from anaccount number. According to some embodiments, the transactionidentifier is physically applied directly to a document by the documentprocessing device or by a separate marking device. For example, adocument processing device can be configured to print a documentidentifier and/or transaction identifier on a back side of all checksprocessed therein.

Document Processing Vault Systems

Referring to FIG. 18A, a block diagram of a document processing vaultsystem 1801 is shown according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. The document processing vault system 1801 can include one ormore of the document processing devices and/or systems described hereinin combination with one or more vaults or safes. As shown in FIG. 18A,the document processing vault system 1801 includes a document processingdevice 1803, an outer vault 1805, and an inner bill vault or compartment1807 a. The document processing device 1803 is similar to, and canperform the same or similar operations as, the document processingdevice 101, 101′, 101 a shown in, for example, FIGS. 1, 2A-2C, 4A anddescribed herein in the Document Processing Device and System Section,in the Deposit Transaction Section, and in other sections of the presentdisclosure.

According to some embodiments, an operator inserts a stack of documentsincluding checks and currency bills into an input receptacle of thedocument processing device 1803. The stack of documents can include oneor more sorted batches of documents and/or one or more intermingledbatches of documents. According to some alternative embodiments, theoperator inserts a single document at a time into the input receptaclefor processing. According to such embodiments, the operator can insertone bill or one check into the input receptacle for processing.According to some embodiments, the document processing vault system 1801processes all of the documents and transports the checks to one or moreoutput receptacles 1803 a that are accessible by the operator andtransports the currency bills into the bill vault 1807 a, which can be asecure storage compartment or cassette within the outer vault 1805. Insome such embodiments, the operator cannot retrieve the currency billsstored in the bill vault 1807 a. In other embodiments, the operator canretrieve some or all of the currency bills by using a key or by enteringa code, or the like. Yet in other embodiments, only a third party canretrieve the currency bills stored in the secured storage compartment,such as, for example, a bank employee or armored carrier employee.

According to some embodiments, the outer vault 1805 includes one securedstorage compartment or cassette for securely storing each type ofdenomination of currency bill processed by the document processing vaultsystem. That is, according to some embodiments, the document processingvault system 1801 can be configured to sort currency bills bydenomination. For U.S. currency bills, according to some embodiments,the document processing vault system includes at least sevencompartments or cassettes, one for each of the denominations, $1, $2,$5, $10, $20, $50, and $100. According to some alternative embodiments,the outer vault 1805 includes a single secured storage compartment orcassette for securely storing each denomination of currency billprocessed by the document processing vault system 1801, such that thestored currency bills having a plurality of denominations areintermingled within the single compartment. According to someembodiments, the document processing vault system 1801 further includesat least one check vault 1807 b, such as, for example, a secure storagecompartment for receiving and storing checks. According to someembodiments, the document processing vault system 1801 includes a singleinner vault (not shown), such as, for example, a secure storagecompartment for receiving and storing currency bills and checks.According to some embodiments, the document processing vault system 1801includes a shredder 1813 or document destruction device for receivingand destroying checks after being imaged and/or otherwise processed bythe document processing vault system 1801.

According to some embodiments, the outer vault 1805 includes a suspectvault 1807 c for receiving and securely storing suspect bills determinedto be suspect by the document processing device 1803. According to someembodiments, the document processing vault system 1801 is physicallyand/or communicatively connected to a coin processing device 1811 a andan outer coin vault 1811 b. The outer coin vault 1811 b can include oneor more inner coin vaults 1811 c for securely storing coins processed bythe coin processing device 1811 a.

According to some embodiments, the document processing vault system 1801is communicatively connected to one or more financial institutions 1809via one or more networks. It is contemplated that, according to someembodiments, the document processing vault system 1801 can be configuredto make a data file available to the financial institution 1809 toreceive a provisional and/or final credit for some or all of thedocuments and/or coins processed and/or stored in the documentprocessing vault system 1801, in the same, or similar, manner that thecustomer document processing system 102 obtains credit from thefinancial institution system 103 described in connection with FIGS. 4Aand 4B. According to some embodiments, the document processing vaultsystem 1801 can be configured to automatically transmit a data file thatis similar to, for example, the data file 301 described above inreference to FIG. 3E in the Document Records and Data Files Section, andin other sections of the present disclosure, to the financialinstitution 1809. According to some such embodiments, the financialinstitution 1809 can credit a financial institution account based on thevalue of documents and/or coins stored in the document processing vaultsystem 1801 and/or processed by the document processing vault system1801 in the same, or similar, fashion as described herein, such as, forexample, as described in reference to FIGS. 4A and 7A-B.

According to some embodiments, one or more financial institutionaccounts associated with deposited documents and/or coins stored in thedocument processing vault system 1801 can receive interest based on avalue of the deposited documents and/or coins in the document processingvault system 1801. According to some such embodiments, interest canbegin to accrue in response to documents and/or coins being depositedand processed by the document processing vault system 1801 and stored inthe vaults 1807 a-c and 1811 c.

Referring to FIG. 18B, a perspective view of a document processing vaultsystem 1821 is shown according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. The document processing vault system 1821 is similar to thedocument processing vault system 1801 described above in reference toFIG. 18A. The document processing vault system 1821 includes a documentprocessing device 1823 coupled with an outer vault 1825. The outer vault1825 can include one or more inner bill vaults, inner check vaults,and/or inner suspect vaults.

According to some alternative embodiments, the document processing vaultsystem 1821 is coupled with a coin processing device 1827, which iscoupled with an outer coin vault 1829. The coin processing device 1827is configured to receive, process, and store coins in the outer coinvault 1829. According to some embodiments, the coin processing device1827 is configured to denominate coins, count coins, sort coins,authenticate coins, or any combination thereof. The outer coin vault1829 can include one or more inner coin vaults, which can be, forexample, metal bins, plastic bins, and/or coin bags. Additional detailsregarding coin processing devices and methods for processing coins aredescribed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0236200, entitled“Apparatus, System and Method For Coin Exchange,” filed Dec. 30, 2008,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Referring to FIG. 18C, a partial cross-sectional perspective view of thedocument processing vault system 1821 of FIG. 18B is shown according tosome embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 18C illustrates atransport path of documents from an input receptacle 1823 a (FIG. 18B)of the document processing device 1823 to one or more of the innervaults, such as, for example, an inner vault 1831. The inner vault 1831is shown outside of its operational position, which is shown in dottedlines as 1831 a, for illustrative purposes.

According to some embodiments, documents are processed by the documentprocessing device 1823 and are stacked on top of a moveable gate 1833.According to some embodiments, in response to a predetermined amount ofdocuments being stacked and/or in response to all of the documents inthe input receptacle 1823 a being processed and stacked on the moveablegate 1833, the moveable gate 1833 is moved in the direction of arrow A,and a plunger assembly 1835 forces the stacked documents in thedirection of arrow B into the inner vault 1831.

According to some embodiments, the inner vault 1831 can be removed fromthe outer vault 1825 for transportation of the entire inner vault 1831to, for example, a bank or armored carrier. Additional details of innervaults and/or cassettes are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,601,687,entitled “Currency Handling System Having Multiple Output Receptacles”.

Referring to FIG. 18D, a method 1800 a of processing currency bills in adocument processing vault system, such as the document processing vaultsystem 1801, is shown according to some embodiments. At act 1802, adocument processing vault system receives currency bills in one or moreinput receptacles. At act 1804, the currency bills are transported fromthe one or more input receptacles past one or more image scanners whichimage each of the currency bills as described elsewhere herein, such as,for example, in the Document Processing Device and System Section, andin other sections of the present disclosure. The imaging of the currencybills generates image data that is reproducible as a visually readableimage of at least a portion of each of the imaged currency bills.

At act 1806, the image data is stored in a memory device. The memorydevice can be within the document processing vault system or externalthereto, such as, for example, the memory device can be located in aserver networked with the document processing vault system. According tosome embodiments, the memory device is a long-term storage device, suchas, for example, a magnetic storage device like a hard-drive. Accordingto some alternative embodiments, the memory device is a short-termstorage device, such as, for example, a semiconductor storage devicelike random-access memory (RAM). According to some embodiments, thememory device can include a hard-drive, a mobile phone, a smart pad, anelectronic wallet, a USB storage device, a stored value card, or anycombination thereof.

After act 1804, the currency bills are transported to a bill vault, suchas, the bill vault 1807 a, at act 1808, for securely storing thecurrency bills therein. According to some embodiments, the currencybills are stored in a single cassette or location having alldenominations of currency bills intermingled therein. According to otherembodiments, the document processing vault system is further configuredto sort the currency bills by denomination and to transport eachdenomination to a separate storage cassette or location within the billvault, at act 1808.

According to some alternative embodiments, the method 1800 a ofprocessing currency bills further includes authenticating each currencybill, at act 1810, followed by act 1808, transporting the currency billsto the bill vault. In such alternative embodiments, the documentprocessing vault system determines if each currency bill is a suspectbill based on one or more authentication tests, such as those describedherein, for example, in the Document Processing Device and SystemSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure. In response toa currency bill being flagged or determined to be a suspect bill, at act1812, the document processing vault system can transport the suspectbill to one or more operator accessible output receptacles of thedocument processing vault system or to a suspect vault within thedocument processing vault system instead of transporting the currencybill to the bill vault.

According to some embodiments, the document processing vault systemindicates to an operator that the currency bills transported to theoutput receptacle or the suspect vault are suspect bills. According tosome embodiments, the operator can physically access the suspect billsin the output receptacle for further processing of these suspect bills.According to some embodiments, the document processing vault system isconfigured to print or make a report available to the operator thatincludes information regarding each determined suspect bill. Theinformation in the report can include a serial number of each determinedsuspect bill.

While the acts 1802, 1804, 1806, 1808, 1810, and 1812 are illustratedand described in a particular sequence, it is contemplated that themethod 1800 a can be performed in a variety of different orders and/orwith one or more acts occurring simultaneously. For example, for a stackof documents, the device can be configured to receive (1802), image(1804), store (1806), authenticate (1810), and/or transport (1808, 1812)different ones of the respective documents simultaneously.

Referring to FIG. 18E, a method of processing documents 1800 b in adocument processing vault system, such as the document processing vaultsystem 1801, is shown according to some embodiments. At act 1814, adocument processing vault system receives a stack of documents in one ormore input receptacles of the document processing vault system. Thestack of documents can include one or more sorted batches of documentsand/or one or more intermingled batches of documents including, forexample, currency bills and checks. At act 1816, the documents aretransported from the one or more input receptacles past one or moreimage scanners to image each of the documents as described elsewhereherein, such as, for example, as described in the Document ProcessingDevice and System Section, and in other sections of the presentdisclosure. The imaging of the documents generates image data that isreproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of eachof the imaged documents. At act 1818, the image data is stored in amemory device in a similar fashion as described above in relation toFIG. 18D.

Either before or after act 1816, each currency bill is authenticated atact 1820. At act 1822, the document processing vault system isconfigured to transport non-suspect currency bills to a bill vault in asimilar manner as described above in reference to act 1808, which isshown in FIG. 18D. Additionally, at act 1824, the document processingvault system is configured to transport suspect bills to one or moreoutput receptacles of the document processing vault system in a similarmanner as described above in reference to FIG. 18D. According to someembodiments, at act 1824, the document processing vault system isconfigured to transport checks to one or more of the output receptaclesof the document processing vault system. It is contemplated that afterchecks are processed and/or imaged by the document processing vaultsystem, the checks can be shredded or otherwise destroyed. According tosome embodiments, the document processing vault system further includesa shredding device or document destruction device coupled therewith forreceiving and destroying the checks after being processed. According tosome alternative embodiments, after checks are processed and/or imagedby the document processing vault system, the checks can be stored in acheck vault, such as the check vault 1807 c, described above inreference to FIG. 18A. According to some alternative embodiments,suspect bills are transported to and stored in a suspect vault, such as,for example, suspect vault 1807 c, described above in reference to FIG.18A.

While the acts 1814, 1816, 1818, 1820, 1822, and 1824 are illustratedand described in a particular sequence, it is contemplated that themethod 1800 b can be performed in a variety of different orders and/orwith one or more acts occurring simultaneously. For example, for a stackof documents, the device can be configured to receive (1814), image(1816), store (1818), authenticate (1820), and/or transport (1822, 1824)different ones of the respective documents simultaneously.

Referring to FIG. 18F, a method of processing documents and coins 1800 cin a document processing vault system, such as the document processingvault system 1801, is shown according to some embodiments. At act 1826,a document processing vault system receives coins in one or more coininput receptacles. According to some embodiments, the coins are counted,denominated, and/or authenticated. At act 1828, the coins aretransported via a coin transport mechanism to one or more coin vaults.According to some embodiments, the coins are securely stored in one ormore coin bins by denomination. According to some embodiments, coins aremixed and securely stored in one or more coin vaults, bins, and/or bags.According to some embodiments, coins failing one or more coinauthentication tests are flagged as suspect coins. According to someembodiments, suspect coins are transported to a reject coin bin ratherthan the coin vault. It is contemplated that according to someembodiments, an operator can manually retrieve the suspect coins in thereject coin bin.

At act 1830, the document processing vault system receives a stack ofdocuments in one or more input receptacles of the document processingvault system. The stack of documents can include one or more sortedbatches of documents and/or one or more intermingled batches ofdocuments including, for example, currency bills and checks. It iscontemplated that, according to some embodiments, at act 1830, thedocuments can be received after the coins are received at act 1826,before the coins are received at act 1826, and/or at the same time thecoins are received at act 1826. At act 1832, the documents aretransported from the one or more input receptacles past one or moreimage scanners to image each of the documents as described elsewhereherein, such as, for example, as described in the Document ProcessingDevice and System Section, and in other sections of the presentdisclosure. The imaging of the documents generates image data that isreproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of eachof the imaged documents. At act 1834, the image data is stored in amemory device in a similar fashion as described above in relation toFIG. 18D.

Either before or after act 1832, each currency bill is authenticated atact 1836. At act 1838, the document processing vault system isconfigured to transport non-suspect currency bills to a bill vault in asimilar manner as described above in reference to FIG. 18D.Additionally, according to some alternative embodiments, at act 1840,the document processing vault system is configured to transport suspectbills to one or more output receptacles of the document processing vaultsystem in a similar manner as described above in reference to FIG. 18D.According to some embodiments, at act 1840, the document processingvault system is configured to transport checks to the one or more outputreceptacles of the document processing vault system in a similar manneras described above in reference to FIG. 18E.

According to some alternative embodiments, after checks are processedand/or imaged by the document processing vault system, the checks can bestored in a check vault, at act 1841, such as the check vault 1807 b,described above in reference to FIG. 18A. According to some alternativeembodiments, in response to a currency bill being flagged or determinedto be a suspect bill, at act 1836, the document processing vault systemcan, at act 1841, transport the suspect bill to a suspect vault, suchas, for example, the suspect vault 1807 c. According to some alternativeembodiments, the checks and currency bills can be stored in the samevault. According to some such alternative embodiments, the checks andcurrency bills can be stored in the same vault along with additionaldocuments, such as, for example, header/trailer cards.

While the acts 1826, 1828, 1830, 1832, 1834, 1836, 1838, 1840, and 1841are illustrated and described in a particular sequence, it iscontemplated that the method 1800 c can be performed in a variety ofdifferent orders and/or with one or more acts occurring simultaneously.For example, it is contemplated that according to some embodiments, thedocuments are received (1830) prior to receiving the coins (1826). Foranother example, for a stack of documents, the device can be configuredto receive coins (1826), transport coins (1828), receive documents(1830), image (1832), store (1834), authenticate (1836), and transport(1838, 1840, 1841) different ones of the respective documentssimultaneously.

Referring to FIG. 18G, a method of processing documents 1800 d in adocument processing vault system is shown according to some embodiments.At act 1842, a document processing vault system receives a stack ofdocuments in one or more input receptacles of the document processingvault system. The stack of documents can include one or more sortedbatches of documents and/or one or more intermingled batches ofdocuments including, for example, currency bills and checks. At act1844, the documents are transported from the one or more inputreceptacles past one or more image scanners to image each of thedocuments as described elsewhere herein, such as, for example, asdescribed in the Document Processing Device and System Section, and inother sections of the present disclosure. The imaging of the documentsgenerates image data that is reproducible as a visually readable imageof at least a portion of each of the imaged documents. According to someembodiments, at act 1846, the image data can be stored in a memorydevice in a similar fashion as described above in relation to FIG. 18D.

At act 1848, the document processing vault system is configured toextract data from the image data in the same, or similar manner, asdescribed herein, such as, for example, as described in the OpticalCharacter Recognition Section, and in other sections of the presentdisclosure. For image data reproducible as a visually readable image ofa currency bill, according to some embodiments, the document processingvault system is configured to extract a serial number from the imagedata. For image data reproducible as a visually readable image of acheck, according to some embodiments, the document processing vaultsystem is configured to extract at least a portion of a MICR line fromthe image data According to some embodiments, other information isextracted from the image data, such as, for example, signatures, platenumbers, etc.

According to some embodiments, either before or after act 1844, eachcurrency bill can be authenticated at act 1850. At act 1852, thedocument processing vault system is configured to transport non-suspectcurrency bills to a vault in a similar manner as described above inreference to FIG. 18D. Additionally, according to some alternativeembodiments, at act 1854, the document processing vault system isconfigured to transport suspect bills to one or more output receptaclesof the document processing vault system in a similar manner as describedabove in reference to FIG. 18D. According to some embodiments, at act1854, the document processing vault system is configured to transportchecks to the one or more output receptacles of the document processingvault system in a similar manner as described above in reference to FIG.18E. According to some alternative embodiments, after checks areprocessed and/or imaged by the document processing vault system, thechecks can be stored in a check vault, such as the check vault 1807 b,described above in reference to FIG. 18A. According to some alternativeembodiments, suspect bills are transported to and stored in a suspectvault, such as, for example, suspect vault 1807 c, described above inreference to FIG. 18A.

At act 1856, the document processing vault system is configured to makea data file, that is similar to, for example, the data file 301described above in reference to FIG. 3E in the Document Records and DataFiles Section, and in other sections of the present disclosure,available. According to some embodiments, the data file includes atleast a portion of the generated image data and/or at least a portion ofthe extracted data. According to some embodiments, the data fileincludes a record for each imaged document. The records can be the sameas, or similar to, the records described herein, such as, for example,the records described in the Document Records and Data Files Section andsuch as described in connection with FIGS. 3A-3D, and in other sectionsof the present disclosure. The data file can be downloaded or uploadedby a financial institution in a similar manner as described elsewhereherein, such as, for example, in connection with FIGS. 3E and 4A and inthe Document Processing Device and System Section, and in other sectionsof the present disclosure. According to some alternative embodiments, atact 1858, the document processing vault system is configured to transmitthe data file to a financial institution. According to some alternativeembodiments, at act 1860, the financial institution that receives orotherwise obtains the data file and is configured to credit a financialinstitution account based on the data file, as described elsewhereherein, such as, for example, as described in connection with FIGS. 4A,5A, 6, 7B, and 8A-B.

It is contemplated that the document processing vault system can beowned, operated, and/or controlled by a financial institution andlocated in a store, such as a retail store, or financial institutioncustomer's office or building. Such an arrangement allows, for example,a bank customer, such as a retail store, to make secured deposits in itsown store using the document processing vault system. Because the bankreceives a data file containing a variety of information (e.g., imagesof bills and checks, amounts of each check, serial number for a bill,etc.) regarding deposits made into the document processing vault systemand/or those documents transported into and stored in the secured vault,the bank may issue a provisional and/or a final credit for all of or aportion of deposits made into the document processing vault system.According to some embodiments, checks deposited into the vault systemare not stored therein, but rather are returned to the depositor(store). According to some embodiments, a bank or armored carrierservice owns the document processing vault system and controls access tothe vault(s) therein. According to some such embodiments, storepersonnel can operate the vault system to make deposits but cannototherwise gain access to documents stored in the vault(s) therein.According to some embodiments, a store and the owner of the vault system(e.g., bank or armored carrier service) can enter into an agreementwhereby depositing document(s) within the vault system transfersownership of the document(s) from the store to the vault system owner.According to some such embodiments, the owner is a bank that gives thestore a credit for the deposit at the time of the deposit, even if anarmored carrier does not pickup the documents until a later time or evenon a different day, etc.

According to some embodiments, an armored carrier service can makeroutine and/or periodic stops either at the request of the store, bank,or otherwise, at the store to remove one or more cassettes ortransportable document storage devices from the vault system for furtherprocessing. For example, the armored carrier service can pickup physicaldocuments from the vault system for further processing in the same, orsimilar, manner as described above in the Deposit Transaction Section,the Physical Portion of Deposit Transaction Section, in reference toFIGS. 4A and 4B, and in other sections of the present disclosure.According to some embodiments, the documents picked up by the armoredcarrier service can include checks for further physical processing bythe armored carrier service and/or a financial institution.Alternatively, any checks deposited into the vault system can bereturned to the store automatically as described above or by the armoredcarrier service to remain at the store indefinitely such that the storecan save the checks for future reference or destroy the checks, such as,for example, as described in the Deposit Transaction Section, thePhysical Portion of Deposit Transaction Section, in reference to FIGS.4A and 4B, and in other sections of the present disclosure.

While the acts 1842, 1844, 1846, 1848, 1850, 1852, 1854, 1856, 1858, and1860 are illustrated and described in a particular sequence, it iscontemplated that the method 1800 d can be performed in a variety ofdifferent orders and/or with one or more acts occurring simultaneously.For example, for a stack of documents, the device can be configured toreceive (1842), image (1844), store (1846), extract (1848), authenticate(1850), and transport (1852, 1854) different ones of the respectivedocuments simultaneously.

According to some embodiments, the cassettes referred to herein areintelligent cassettes including a memory device for electronicallystoring records therein. According to some embodiments, each cassettememory stores a record associated with each document expected to belocated in the cassette. According to some embodiments, the records arethe same as, or similar to, the records 300 a-d described in theDocument Records and Data Files Section and in connection with FIGS.3A-3D, and in other sections of the present disclosure. According tosome embodiments, the intelligent cassettes are communicativelyconnected to the document processing device and/or system such that, inresponse to documents being transported into the intelligent cassette,the device/system also transmits the records of the associateddocuments. For example, an imaging MPS includes a plurality ofintelligent cassettes, where each cassette is configured to receive asingle U.S. denomination of currency. In response to an operatorprocessing a stack of documents including U.S. currency bills includingall seven denominations, the imaging MPS is configured to transport eachdenomination to a respective one of the intelligent cassettes and totransmit a corresponding record to the corresponding cassette memory.

According to some embodiments, the document processing devices and/orsystems of the present disclosure can be configured to receive one ormore intelligent cassettes in a input receptacle. According to some suchembodiments, the device and/or system is configured to receive and/orretrieve documents stored therein and process the documents as describedherein. According to some embodiments, the device and/or system isconfigured to electronically couple to the intelligent cassette and reada data file included in a memory of the intelligent cassette(s).According to some embodiments, the device and/or system is configured tocompare the data in the memory of the intelligent cassette withgenerated information to determine if any documents that are suppose tobe the intelligent cassette are missing and/or to determine if there areany additional documents in the intelligent cassette that wereunexpected.

According to some embodiments, the intelligent cassettes includerespective barcodes instead of or in addition to memory devices. It iscontemplated that according to some embodiments, the barcodes onintelligent cassettes are inputted into a document processing systemsuch as the imaging MPS via, for example, a barcode reader. According tosome such embodiments, in response to a document being transported to aspecific cassette, the imaging MPS is configured to tag thecorresponding barcode (decoded barcode indicia) to a record associatedwith the document stored in a database, such as the databases describedherein, such as, for example, database 1200 a described in connectionwith FIG. 12A. That is, a coded number or identifier associated with abarcode indicia on an intelligent cassette can be tagged to recordsassociated with documents expected to be stored in that cassette. It iscontemplated that, according to some embodiments, an operator of acomputer or other system communicatively connected to the databasestoring the records can scan the barcode on an intelligent cassette topull up a list of the records on a display device.

Document Processing Recycler Systems

Now referring to FIG. 19A, a block diagram of a document processingrecycler system 1901 is shown according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. The recycler system 1901 can include one or more ofthe document processing devices and/or systems described herein incombination with one or more recycling vaults or recycling safes and oneor more excess vaults or excess safes. As shown in FIG. 19A, thedocument processing recycler system 1901 includes a document processingdevice 1903, an outer vault 1905, an inner recycle vault or compartment1907 a, and an inner excess vault or compartment 1907 b. The documentprocessing device 1903 is similar to, and can perform the same orsimilar operations as, the document processing device 101, 101′, 101 ashown in FIGS. 1, 2A-2C, 4A and described herein in the DocumentProcessing Device and System Section and in the Deposit TransactionSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, an operator inserts a stack of currencybills into one or more input receptacles 1903 a of the documentprocessing device 1903. According to some alternative embodiments, theoperator inserts a single document at a time into the one or more inputreceptacles for processing. According to such embodiments, the operatorcan insert one bill or one check into the input receptacle forprocessing. According to some embodiments, the recycler system 1901processes all of the currency bills and transports the currency billsinto the recycle vault 1907 a or the excess vault 1907 b, which can besecure storage compartments or cassettes within the outer vault 1905.According to some embodiments, the operator can retrieve some or all ofthe currency bills in the recycle vault 1907 a, such as, for example, byinstructing the document processing recycler system 1901 to dispensecurrency bills to one or more operator accessible output receptacles1903 b, as described herein in reference to FIG. 19B. According to someembodiments, the operator cannot retrieve the currency bills stored inthe excess vault 1907 b. According to some embodiments, the operator canretrieve some or all of the currency bills from the recycle vault 1907 aand/or the excess vault 1907 b by using a key or by entering a code, orthe like. Yet in other embodiments, only a third party can retrieve thecurrency bills stored in the excess vault 1907 b, such as, for example,a bank employee or armored carrier employee.

According to some alternative embodiments, the document processingrecycler system 1901 is configured to receive a stack of documents thatincludes one or more sorted batches of documents and/or one or moreintermingled batches of documents including currency bills and checks.In some such embodiments, the document processing recycler system 1901further includes a check vault for receiving and storing checks.Alternatively, the document processing recycler system 1901 can beconfigured to return checks to an operator via one of the outputreceptacles 1903 b after the checks are processed. Alternatively, thedocument processing recycler system 1901 can destroy processed checksusing a document destruction device in a similar manner as describedherein in reference to FIG. 18A.

According to some embodiments, the recycle vault 1907 a and/or theexcess vault 1907 b each can include one secured storage compartment orcassette for securely storing each type of denomination of currency billprocessed by the document processing recycler system 1901. That is,according to some embodiments, the document processing recycler system1901 can be configured to sort currency bills by denomination. Accordingto some alternative embodiments, the recycle vault 1907 a and/or theexcess vault 1907 b each includes a single secured storage compartmentor cassette for securely storing each denomination of currency billprocessed by the document processing recycler system 1901, such that thestored currency bills are intermingled within the single compartment.

According to some embodiments, the outer vault 1905 can further includea suspect vault 1907 c for receiving and securely storing suspect billsdetermined to be suspect by the document processing device 1903.According to some embodiments, the document processing recycler system1901 is physically and/or communicatively connected to a coin processingdevice and an outer coin vault in a similar manner as described hereinin the Document Processing Vault System Section and as shown in FIGS.18A and 18B, and in other sections of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, the document processing recycler system1901 is communicatively connected to one or more financial institutions1909 via one or more networks. It is contemplated that, according tosome embodiments, the document processing recycler system 1901 can beconfigured to make a data file available to the financial institution1909 so that a depositor such as a store on whose premises the system1901 is located can receive a provisional and/or final credit for someor all of the documents processed and/or stored in the documentprocessing recycler system 1901, in the same, or similar, manner thatthe customer document processing system 102 obtains credit from thefinancial institution system 103 described in connection with FIGS. 4Aand 4B. According to some embodiments, the document processing recyclersystem 1901 can be configured to automatically transmit a data file thatis similar to, for example, the data file 301 described above inreference to FIG. 3E in the Document Records and Data Files Section, andin other sections of the present disclosure, to the financialinstitution 1909. According to some such embodiments, the financialinstitution 1909 can credit a financial institution account based on thevalue of documents stored in the document processing recycler system1901 and/or processed by the document processing recycler system 1901 ina similar fashion as described herein, such as, for example, asdescribed in reference to FIGS. 4A and 7A-B. According to someembodiments, the financial institution 1909 is configured to only credita financial institution account based on the value of currency billsstored in the excess vault 1907 b. Yet in other embodiments, thefinancial institution 1909 is configured to credit a financialinstitution account based on a value of currency bills stored in theexcess vault 1907 b and currency bills stored in the recycle vault 1907a. According to some embodiments, one or more financial institutionaccounts associated with deposited documents stored in the documentprocessing recycler system 1901 can receive interest based on a value ofthe deposited documents in the document processing recycler system 1901.According to some such embodiments, interest can begin to accrue inresponse to documents being deposited and stored in the vault(s) 1907 aand/or 1907 b of the document processing recycler system 1901.

Now referring to FIG. 19B, a method for processing documents in adocument processing recycler system 1900, such as the documentprocessing recycler system 1901, is shown according to some embodiments.The document processing recycler system can also be referred to as acurrency bill recycler system or a recycler system. At act 1902, thedocument processing recycler system receives currency bills in one ormore input receptacles, such as, for example, the input receptacles 1903a. At act 1904, the currency bills are transported from the one or moreinput receptacles past one or more image scanners that image each of thecurrency bills as described elsewhere herein, such as, for example, inthe Document Processing Device and System Section, and in other sectionsof the present disclosure. The imaging of the currency bills generatesimage data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of at leasta portion of each of the imaged currency bills. According to somealternative embodiments, at act 1906, data is extracted from the imagedata as described elsewhere herein, such as, for example, in the OpticalCharacter Recognition Section, and in other sections of the presentdisclosure. In some such embodiments, the extracted data includes serialnumbers, denominations, series information, etc.

At act 1908, the image data is stored in a memory device. The memorydevice can be within the document processing recycler system or externalthereto, such as, for example, the memory device can be located in aserver networked with the document processing recycler system. Accordingto some embodiments, the memory device is a long-term storage device,such as, for example, a magnetic storage device like a hard-drive.According to some alternative embodiments, the memory device is ashort-term storage device, such as, for example, a semiconductor storagedevice like random-access memory (RAM).

At act 1910, the document processing recycler system authenticates thebills using one or more authentication tests, such as, for example,those described herein in the Document Processing Device and SystemSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure. In response toa currency bill being flagged or determined to be a suspect bill, at act1912, the document processing recycler system can, at act 1914,transport the suspect bill to a suspect vault, such as, for example, thesuspect vault 1907 c. According to some alternative embodiments, inresponse to a currency bill being flagged or determined to be a suspectbill, at act 1912, the document processing recycler system can, at act1916, transport the suspect bill to one or more output receptacles toreturn the suspect bill to an operator.

According to some embodiments, the document processing recycler systemindicates to an operator that the currency bills transported to thesuspect vault and/or to the one or more output receptacles are suspect.According to some embodiments, the operator can physically access thesuspect bills in the output receptacle for further processing of thesesuspect bills. According to some embodiments, the document processingrecycler system is configured to print or make a report available to theoperator that includes information regarding each determined suspectbill. The information in the report can include a serial number of eachdetermined suspect bill.

In response to the document processing recycler system determining atact 1912 that a bill is not suspect, the document processing recyclersystem determines if the contents of the recycle vault has reached acapacity at act 1918. According to some embodiments, the recycle vaulthas a predetermined capacity of currency bills, a predetermined capacityfor each denomination of currency bills, or both. That is, according tosome embodiments, the number of each denomination of currency bills thatcan be stored in the recycle vault is predetermined or preset. It iscontemplated that an operator can adjust the predetermined number ofcurrency bills that the document processing recycler system will storein one or more cassettes or compartments of the recycle vault. Forexample, an operator can adjust the capacity of the recycle vault tostore enough of each denomination of U.S. currency bills to fill one ormore teller tills or to satisfy the anticipated needs of an operator,such as, for example, a retail store teller, for some period of time,such as, for example, an amount of currency bills anticipated to beneeded for a next shift or business day.

In response to the document processing recycle system determining thatthe recycle vault is at capacity and/or at capacity for a particulardenomination of currency bill, at act 1918, according to someembodiments, the document processing recycler system transports excesscurrency bills to the excess vault, at act 1920, for securely storingthe excess currency bills therein. In response to the documentprocessing recycle system determining that the recycle vault is not atcapacity and/or not at capacity for a particular denomination ofcurrency bill, at act 1918, according to some embodiments, the documentprocessing recycler system transports the currency bills to the recyclevault and/or particular cassettes or compartments therein, at act 1922,for securely storing the currency bills therein. According to someembodiments, for the excess vault and/or the recycle vault, the currencybills can be stored in a single cassette or compartment having alldenominations of currency bills intermingled therein. According to otherembodiments, the document processing recycle system is configured tosort the currency bills by denomination and to transport eachdenomination to a separate storage cassette or compartment within theexcess vault and/or the recycle vault.

According to some embodiments, an operator of the document processingrecycler system can request or instruct the recycle system to dispensecurrency bills. For example, the operator can instruct the documentprocessing recycler system to dispense $100. The instruction can bespecific to an exact number of one or more denominations of currencybills (e.g., dispense five $20), or the instruction can just be for atotal amount of currency (e.g., dispense $300). According to someembodiments, the document processing recycler system is configured todispense a preset or predetermined blend of denominations of currencybills. For example, in response to receiving a request to dispensecurrency bills for a cash or teller till, the document processingrecycler system can be configured to automatically dispense twenty $1's,ten $5's, five $10's, and four $20's. The document processing recyclersystem can be configured to have hotkeys and/or preprogrammedinstructions that are configurable such that an operator can press orselect a “dispense-cash-till button” or a “dispense-cash-till element”such as on a touchscreen display and the document processing recyclersystem is configured to automatically dispense a preprogrammed blend ofcurrency bills. According to some alternative embodiments, the documentprocessing recycler system can further be configured to receive and/ordispense coins in a similar manner as currency bills. Additional detailsabout dispensing coins can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,637,576, which ishereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

According to some embodiments, the document processing recycler systemcan be configured to directly fill a cash till with a predeterminedamount of currency bills and/or coins. According to some embodiments,the document processing recycler system can be configured to receive anempty cash till such that the document processing recycler systemautomatically dispenses a preset or preprogrammed number of particulardenominations of currency bill and/or coins into respective compartmentswithin the cash till. For example, the document processing recyclersystem can be configured to dispense twenty $1's into a firstcompartment, ten $5's into a second compartment, five $10's into a thirdcompartment, and four $20's into a fourth compartment.

According to some alternative embodiments, at act 1924, the documentprocessing recycler system determines if a dispensing instruction orrequest has been received. It is contemplated that an operator can useone or more input devices to make such a request, such as, for example,using a control panel similar to the control panel 170 described hereinin reference to FIG. 1A. If a dispensing request is detected at act1924, the document processing recycler system transports a correspondingblend of currency bills from the recycle vault to one or more outputreceptacles of the document processing recycler system at act 1926, suchas, the one or more output receptacles 1903 b shown in FIG. 19A.According to some alternative embodiments, the document processingrecycler system is further configured to dispense coins to a coin outputreceptacle in response to receiving a dispensing request associated withcoins.

According to some alternative embodiments, at act 1928, the documentprocessing recycler system is configured to make a data file, that issimilar to, for example, the data file 301 described above in referenceto FIG. 3E in the Document Records and Data Files Section, and in othersections of the present disclosure, available and/or to transmit thedata file to a financial institution. According to some embodiments, thedata file includes at least a portion of the generated image data and/orat least a portion of the data extracted in act 1906. According to someembodiments, the data file includes a record for each imaged document.The records can be the same as, or similar to, the records describedherein, such as, for example, the records described in the DocumentRecords and Data Files Section and in other sections of the presentdisclosure, and such as described in connection with FIGS. 3A-3D. Thedata file can be downloaded or uploaded by a financial institution in asimilar manner as described elsewhere herein, such as, for example, inconnection with FIGS. 3E and 4A and in the Document Processing Deviceand System Section, and in other sections of the present disclosure.According to some embodiments, a financial institution that receives orotherwise obtains the data file is configured to credit a financialinstitution account based on the data file, as described elsewhereherein, such as, for example, as described in connection with FIGS. 4A,5A, 6, 7B, and 8A-B.

It is contemplated that the document processing recycler system can beowned, operated, and/or controlled by a financial institution andlocated in a store, such as a retail store, or financial institutioncustomer's office or building. Such an arrangement allows, for example,a bank customer, such as a retail store, to make secured deposits and/orwithdrawals in its own store using the document processing recyclersystem. Because the bank receives a data file containing a variety ofinformation (e.g., images of bills and checks, amounts of each check,serial number for a bill, etc.) regarding deposits and withdrawals madeinto and from the document processing recycler system and/or thosedocuments transported into and stored in the excess and recycle vaults,the bank may issue a provisional and/or a final credit for all of or aportion of deposits made into the document processing recycler system.According to some embodiments, a bank or armored carrier service ownsthe document processing recycler system and controls access to at leastone of the vault(s) therein, such as, for example, the excess vault 1907b and/or the suspect vault 1907 c. According to some embodiments, storepersonnel can operate the recycler system to make deposits andwithdrawals, but can only withdraw documents contained in the recyclevault 1907 a and not in the excess vault 1907 b or in the suspect vault1907 c. According to some embodiments, a store and the owner of therecycler system (e.g., bank or armored carrier service) can enter intoan agreement whereby depositing document(s) within the recycler systemtransfers ownership of the document(s) from the store to the recyclersystem owner. According to some such embodiments, the owner is a bankthat gives the store a credit for the deposit at the time of thedeposit, even if an armored carrier does not pickup the documents untila later time or even on a different day, etc.

According to some embodiments, an armored carrier service can makeroutine and/or periodic stops either at the request of the store, bank,or otherwise, at the store to remove documents, one or more cassettes ortransportable document storage devices from the recycler system forfurther processing. For example, the armored carrier service can pickupphysical documents from the recycler system for further processing inthe same, or similar, manner as described above in the DepositTransaction Section, the Physical Portion of Deposit TransactionSection, in reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B, and in other sections of thepresent disclosure. According to some embodiments, the documentprocessing recycler system 1901 is configured to receive and processchecks in the same, or similar, manner as described in the DocumentProcessing Vault System Section and in connection with FIGS. 18A-18G,and in other sections of the present disclosure. According to someembodiments, the documents picked up by the armored carrier service caninclude checks for further physical processing by the armored carrierservice and/or a financial institution. Alternatively, any checksdeposited into the recycler system can be returned to the storeautomatically as described above or by the armored carrier service toremain at the store indefinitely such that the store can save the checksfor future reference or destroy the checks, such as, for example, asdescribed in the Deposit Transaction Section, the Physical Portion ofDeposit Transaction Section, in reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B, and inother sections of the present disclosure.

While the acts 1902, 1904, 1906, 1908, 1910, 1912, 1914, 1916, 1918,1920, 1922, 1924, 1926, and 1928 are illustrated and described in aparticular sequence, it is contemplated that the method 1900 can beperformed in a variety of different orders and/or with one or more actsoccurring simultaneously. For example, for a stack of documents, thedevice can be configured to receive (1902), image (1904), extract(1906), store (1908), authenticate (1910), and/or transport/return(1914, 1916, 1920, 1922) different ones of the respective documentssimultaneously.

Serial Number Batch Headers and Trailers

Referring to FIG. 20A, a flowchart describing a method 2000 forprocessing currency bills in a document processing device and/or systemusing header bills and/or trailer bills is shown according to someembodiments of the present disclosure. For ease of description, thedocument processing device and/or system will be referred to herein inthe Serial Number Batch Headers and Trailers Section as a documentprocessing device or the device. The device is the same as, or similarto, and can perform the same or similar operations as, the documentprocessing device 101, 101′, 101 a,b and/or the document processingsystem 100, shown in FIGS. 1, 2A-2C, 4A, and described herein in, forexample, the Document Processing Device and System Section, in theDeposit Transaction Section, and in other sections of the presentdisclosure.

According to some embodiments, use of header bills and/or trailer billsas described herein eliminates the need for standard header/trailercards that are typically used to physically separate batches ofdocuments during document processing in, for example, a bank vault. Thatis, header bills and/or trailer bills can replace header/trailer cards.It is contemplated that according to some embodiments, the eliminationof header/trailer cards can increase document processing efficiency andreduce costs associated with processing documents as operators will nothave to bother with inserting the cards between batches or bother withscanning the cards during processing to associate customer informationwith documents.

According to some embodiments, a document processing device isconfigured to extract and store one or more header serial number(s)and/or trailer serial number(s). A header serial number is a serialnumber of a first currency bill in a batch of currency bills, alsoreferred to herein as a header bill. A trailer serial number is a serialnumber of a last currency bill in a batch of currency bills, alsoreferred to herein as a trailer bill. For example, in a batch of onehundred bills, where each bill has a different serial number, the serialnumber of the first bill, or header bill, can be used as a header serialnumber and the serial number of the one hundredth bill, or trailer bill,can be used as a trailer serial number. According to some embodiments,one or more header bills and/or trailer bills can be used to associatebills, such as, for example, suspect bills, in one or more batches ofbills to one or more customers, such as, for example, financialinstitution customers, like a retail store.

While header and/or trailer serial numbers are described herein as beingserial numbers of one respective bill, it is contemplated that accordingto some embodiments, a header serial number and/or trailer serial numbercan include two or more serial numbers. For example, a header serialnumber can include a serial number of a first bill and a second bill ina batch of bills. Similarly, a trailer serial number can include aserial number of a last bill and a second-to-last bill in a batch ofbills. According to some embodiments, such additional serial numbers inthe header/trailer serial numbers aid in distinguishing batches of billsthat might otherwise include a currency bill with the same serial numberas the serial number of the header bill or the trailer bill.

According to some alternative embodiments, a header/trailer serialnumber can include one or more denominations. For example, a headerserial number can include a serial number and a denomination of a firstcurrency bill in a batch of currency bills. Similarly, a trailer serialnumber can include a serial number and a denomination of a last currencybill in a batch of currency bills.

At act 2002, a customer identifier, such as, for example, a customeraccount number, is received in a document processing device. Accordingto some embodiments, the customer identifier can be manually enteredinto an input device by an operator, such as, for example, a controlpanel, like the control panel 170 described herein in reference toFIG. 1. According to some other embodiments, the customer identifier canbe received in the device in the same, or similar, manners described inthe Document Processing Device Operations in a Financial InstitutionSystem Section, and in other sections of the present disclosure, and inconnection with FIGS. 14-17, such as, for example, via OCR of a depositslip, barcode reader, MICR reader. At act 2004, a batch of bills isreceived in an input receptacle of the device. The batch of bills has acustomer identifier associated therewith. For example, the batch ofbills can be a deposit of bills of a financial institution customer. Atact 2006, the device images the batch of bills to generate image datathat is reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portionof each bill in the batch of bills as described elsewhere herein, suchas, for example, in the Document Processing Device and System Section,and in other sections of the present disclosure. At act 2008, the deviceextracts serial numbers from the generated image data in the same, orsimilar, manner as described herein, such as, for example, as describedin the Optical Character Recognition Section, and in other sections ofthe present disclosure. According to some embodiments, the deviceextracts one serial number from the image data for each of bills in thebatch of bills.

According to some embodiments, at act 2010, the device (1) stores theextracted serial number of the first bill in the batch of bills, theheader bill, in a memory and (2) associates the extracted serial numberas a header serial number of the batch of bills in the memory with thereceived customer identifier. That is, the device associates the firstextracted serial number with the customer identifier and stores thatassociated information in a memory. According to some embodiments, theheader serial number and associated customer identifier can be storedlocally in a memory of the device and/or remotely, such as, for example,in a memory of a server. Alternatively or in addition to storing aheader serial number, at act 2010, the device can be configured to (1)store the extracted serial number of the last bill in the batch ofbills, the trailer bill, in the memory and (2) associate the extractedserial number as a trailer serial number of the batch of bills in thememory with the received customer identifier. That is, according to someembodiments, the device associates the last extracted serial number withthe customer identifier and stores that associated information in thememory. As described below, an imaging MPS can access and/orelectronically search the memory for one or more header/trailer serialnumbers to determine the customer identifier associated with thesearched header/trailer serial number(s).

According to some alternative embodiments, at act 2012, a record iscreated for each bill in the batch of bills including the header billand the trailer bill. The created records can be stored in a memory ofthe device and/or a memory of a server at act 2014. The records can bethe same as, or similar to, the records described herein, such as, forexample, the records described in the Document Records and Data FilesSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure. Alternativelyor additionally, the records can be saved or stored in a searchabledatabase, such as, for example, the database 1200 a,b described in theModes of Operation—Searching/Master Database Section, and in othersections of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, the records associated with header billsand trailer bills include a header/trailer field for indicating that theassociated bill is a header bill or a trailer bill. For example, therecord 300 a in FIG. 3A, can be modified to include a header/trailerfield that indicates that the $1 bill associated with the record 300 ahaving serial number G3468700A is a header bill. According to someembodiments, the records include one or moreheader/trailer-serial-number fields. For example, each bill in the batchof bills is associated with a respective record that includes aheader/trailer-serial-number field for including header serial number(s)and/or trailer serial number(s). That is, each record associated with abill in the batch of bills is tagged with the serial number and/or adenomination of a header bill and/or the serial number and/or adenomination of a trailer bill. For example, referring to the database1200 b in FIG. 12B, each of the records 1201 b can be modified tofurther include a header/trailer-serial-number field that includes aheader serial number and/or trailer serial number.

According to some embodiments, for a batch of five bills only includingthe five bills in the database 1200 b, the first bill having document ID9493 is the header bill such that the serial number G48976304I is aheader serial number. Similarly, the last bill having document ID 9497is the trailer bill such that the serial number G09261392I is a trailerserial number. The first record associated with the document ID 9493 canbe modified to include a header field that indicates that the associatedbill is a header bill. Similarly, the last record associated with thedocument ID 9497 can be modified to include a trailer field thatindicates that the associated bill is a trailer bill. The recordsassociated with the bills between the header bill and the trailer billcan be modified to include a header-serial-number field and/or atrailer-serial-number field to include the header serial number and thetrailer serial number respectively. Additionally or alternatively, eachrecord can include a header-serial-number field and/or atrailer-serial-number field and in the case of the record beingassociated with document 9493 (i.e., the header bill), the associatedrecord includes serial number G48976304I and/or serial number G09261392Iin the header-serial-number field and/or the trailer-serial-numberfield, respectively.

It is contemplated that according to some embodiments, including aheader/trailer field and/or a header/trailer serial number in one ormore header/trailer-serial-number fields in the records can assist intracking and/or identifying customer identifiers associated withspecific bills, such as, for example, suspect bills, included in aspecific batch of bills, as described, for example, in reference to FIG.20B.

While the acts 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014 areillustrated and described in a particular sequence, it is contemplatedthat the method 2000 can be performed in a variety of different ordersand/or with one or more acts occurring simultaneously. For example, itis contemplated that according to some embodiments, the batch of billsis received prior to receiving the customer identifier. For anotherexample, for a stack of documents, the device is configured to image(2006), extract (2008), store/associate (2010), create records (2012),and/or store records (2014) for different ones of the respectivedocuments simultaneously.

Referring to FIG. 20B, a flowchart describing a method 2001 forprocessing currency bills in an imaging multiple pocket documentprocessing device and/or system using the header bills and/or thetrailer bills of FIG. 20A is shown according to some embodiments. Forease of description, the imaging multiple pocket document processingdevice and/or system will be referred to herein in the Serial NumberBatch Headers and Trailers Section as an imaging MPS. The imaging MPS isthe same as, or similar to, and can perform the same or similaroperations as, the document processing device 101, the documentprocessing system 100, and/or the imaging multiple pocket documentprocessing device 400, shown in FIGS. 1, 4A, and 4B, and describedherein in the Document Processing Device and System Section, in theDeposit Transaction Section, and in other sections of the presentdisclosure.

According to some embodiments, in response to the completion of themethod 2000, an operator of the device (“initial device”), describedabove in reference to FIG. 20A, physically transports a batch of billsfrom the initial device to the imaging MPS for further processing. It iscontemplated that the operator transports the batch of bills along witha plurality of additional batches of bills associated with one or morecustomer identifiers. For example, the operator can transport thebatches of bills in a tray commonly used in bank vaults. According tosome embodiments, the batches of bills are only separated via one ormore header bills and/or trailer bills. That is, the operator maintainsbatch integrity of the batches of bills by positioning the batches inthe tray such that each batch is flanked or boarded by at least oneheader bill and/or at least one trailer bill. According to someembodiments, the operator maintains batch integrity of the batches ofbills by positioning the batches in the tray such that each batch istransported in substantially the same order as initially processed bythe initial device.

At act 2016, a batch of bills is received in an input receptacle of theimaging MPS. The received batch of bills is one of the batches of billspreviously processed by an operator of the initial device describedabove in reference to FIG. 20A. At act 2018, the imaging MPS images thebatch of bills to generate image data that is reproducible as a visuallyreadable image of at least a portion of each bill in the batch of billsas described elsewhere herein, such as, for example, in the DocumentProcessing Device and System Section, and in other sections of thepresent disclosure. At act 2020, the imaging MPS extracts or determinesserial numbers and/or other data, such as denominations, from thegenerated image data in the same, or similar, manner as describedherein, such as, for example, as described in the Optical CharacterRecognition Section, and in other sections of the present disclosure.According to some embodiments, the imaging MPS extracts one serialnumber from the image data for each of bills in the batch of bills. Itis contemplated that according to some embodiments, for a stack ofdocuments, the acts 2018 and 2020 can be performed for different ones ofthe respective documents simultaneously.

According to some embodiments, the imaging MPS accesses and/orelectronically searches the memory for one or more header/trailer serialnumbers to determine the customer identifier associated with thesearched header/trailer serial number(s). At act 2022, the imaging MPSdetermines if each one of the extracted serial numbers is a headerserial number or a trailer serial number. That is, the imaging MPSsearches a memory storing header/trailer serial numbers associated withthe customer identifiers for a serial number that matches one of theextracted serial numbers—a matching serial number being a header ortrailer serial number. In response to determining that an extractedserial number is a header or trailer serial number, at act 2024, theimaging MPS reads or otherwise determines the associated customeridentifier from the memory. According to some embodiments, the imagingMPS is communicatively connected to the memory storing theheader/trailer serial numbers, discussed above in reference to method2000, such that the imaging MPS can read or determine the customeridentifier associated with each header/trailer serial number. That is,the imaging MPS can automatically determine the customer identifier thatis associated with each batch of bills from the memory.

In response to the imaging MPS (1) determining that an extracted serialnumber is not a header/trailer serial number at act 2022, or (2)determining the customer identifier at act 2024, the imaging MPSauthenticates the bill associated with the extracted serial number atact 2026. That is, the imaging MPS authenticates each bill in the batchof bills as act 2026. The imaging MPS can be configured to authenticatethe bills using one or more authentication sensors, such as, forexample, the authentication sensor 145 described above in the DocumentProcessing Device and System Section, and in other sections of thepresent disclosure. The one or more authentication sensors can beconfigured to authenticate the bills based on one or more criteriaand/or authentication tests, such as, for example, those describedherein in the Document Processing Device and System Section, and inother sections of the present disclosure.

At act 2028, the imaging MPS determines if the bill is a suspect billbased on the one or more authentication tests. In response to theimaging MPS determining that a bill is not suspect, the bill istransported to an output receptacle at act 2030. In response to theimaging MPS determining that a bill is a suspect bill, the suspect billis transported to a suspect or reject receptacle at act 2032. That is,according to some embodiments, the imaging MPS is configured to off-sortsuspect bills, at act 2032, for an operator to further process thesuspect bills. According to some alternative embodiments, the imagingMPS is configured to generate, transmit, and/or print a report includinginformation regarding any determined suspect bill, which may include thecustomer ID associated with the suspect bill.

According to some alternative embodiments, the imaging MPS is configuredto transport a trailer bill to the reject receptacle at act 2034. Forexample, the imaging MPS determines that one or more bills in a batchare suspect bills and transports such bills to the rejct receptacle. Asthe imaging MPS continues to authenticate bills in the same batch ofbills, the imaging MPS further looks for the trailer bill by comparingthe extracted serial numbers with stored trailer serial numbers in amemory as discussed above. In response to finding a trailer bill, theimaging MPS off-sorts the trailer bill to the same receptacle containingthe off-sorted suspect bill(s), if any. According to some embodiments,if a batch of bills contains no suspect bills, the imaging MPS isconfigured to transport the trailer bill to the output receptacleconfigured to receive the rest of the bills in the batch. After theimaging MPS completely processes the batches of bills, according to somealternative embodiments, an operator can remove the suspect bill(s) andthe trailer bill(s) from the reject receptacle and manually lookup acustomer identifier associated with the suspect bill and/or the trailerbill. For example, the operator can search a database of records for arecord including a serial number matching the serial number of thesuspect bill and/or the trailer bill in the same or similar fashion asdescribed herein in the Modes of Operation—Searching/Master DatabaseSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure, and inconnection with FIGS. 12C-12G. According to some such embodiments, theoperator can chargeback a customer determined to have deposited thesuspect bill based on the manual lookup. Such a chargeback process isadvantageous for situations in which the database includes multiplerecords for different bills having the same serial number. That is,off-sorting a trailer bill along with the suspect bill aids the operatorin charging-back the correct customer for the suspect bill, as thetrailer bill includes the trailer serial number that was associated withthe customer identifier to be charged-back in the act 2010 of the method2000.

According to some alternative embodiments, the imaging MPS can beconfigured to associate a denomination of a determined suspect bill witha customer identifier at act 2036. That is, the imaging MPS can tally ortotal a value of all determined suspect bills for a batch of bills beingprocessed and to associate the total value of suspect bills with thecustomer identifier associated with the header/trailer serial number ofthe batch of bills being processed. Put another way, the imaging MPS cantrack and tag suspect bill values to a customer identifier. At act 2038,the imaging MPS can be configured to transmit a chargeback instructionand/or signal. According to some embodiments, the chargeback instructionand/or signal includes information such as the customer identifier andtotaled value of suspect bills deposited by a customer associated withthe customer identifier. It is contemplated that, according to someembodiments, a bank employee receives the chargeback instruction and canissue a chargeback to a customer based on the information in thechargeback instruction in the same, or similar, manner as describedherein, such as, for example, as described in the Document ProcessingDevice and System Section and in the Document Transaction Section, andin other sections of the present disclosure, and in connection withFIGS. 5A, 5B, and 6.

While the acts 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024, 2026, 2028, 2030, 2032,2034, 2036, and 2038 are illustrated and described in a particularsequence, it is contemplated that the method 2001 can be performed in avariety of different orders and/or with one or more acts occurringsimultaneously. For example, for a stack of documents, the device can beconfigured to receive (2016), image (2018), extract (2020), authenticate(2026), determine IDs (2024), transport (2030, 2032, 2034), Associate(2036) and/or chargeback (2038) for different ones of the respectivedocuments simultaneously.

Referring to FIG. 20C, a flowchart describing a method 2050 forprocessing currency bills in a document processing device and/or systemusing adjacent bills is shown according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. The method 2050 is similar to the method 2000, butrather than using header bills and/or trailer bills, the method 2050uses adjacent bills. According to some embodiments, an adjacent bill isbill that flanks or boarders another bill. For example, in a batch ofone hundred bills, the fifth bill in the batch is flanked by the fourthbill and the sixth bill in the batch. Thus, the fourth and sixth billsare adjacent bills with respect to the fifth bill. According to someother embodiments, the third, the fourth, the sixth, and the seventhbills in the batch are adjacent bills with respect to the fifth bill inthe batch.

At act 2052, a customer identifier is received in a document processingdevice. At act 2054, a batch of bills is received in an input receptacleof the device. At act 2056, the device images the batch of bills togenerate image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image ofat least a portion of each bill in the batch of bills as describedelsewhere herein, such as, for example, in the Document ProcessingDevice and System Section, and in other sections of the presentdisclosure. At act 2058, the device extracts serial numbers from thegenerated image data in the same, or similar, manner as describedherein, such as, for example, as described in the Optical CharacterRecognition Section, and in other sections of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, at act 2060, a record is created for eachbill in the batch of bills. The created records can be stored in amemory of the device and/or a memory of a server at act 2062. Therecords can be the same as, or similar to, the records described herein,such as, for example, the records described in the Document Records andData Files Section, and in other sections of the present disclosure.Alternatively or additionally, the records can be saved or stored in asearchable database, such as, for example, the database 1200 a,bdescribed in the Modes of Operation—Searching/Master Database Section,and in other sections of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, the records include one or moreadjacent-serial-number fields. For example, each bill in the batch ofbills is associated with a record that includes one or moreadjacent-serial-number fields for including one or more serial numbersof one or more adjacent bills. That is, each record associated with abill in the batch of bills is tagged with the serial number of one ormore adjacent bills in the batch of bills. It is contemplated thataccording to some embodiments, including adjacent serial numbers in oneor more adjacent-serial-number fields in the records can assist intracking and/or identifying customer identifiers associated withspecific bills, such as, for example, suspect bills, included in aspecific batch of bills, as described, for example, in reference to FIG.20D.

While the acts 2052, 2054, 2056, 2058, 2060, and 2062 are illustratedand described in a particular sequence, it is contemplated that themethod 2050 can be performed in a variety of different orders and/orwith one or more acts occurring simultaneously. For example, it iscontemplated that according to some embodiments, the batch of bills isreceived prior to receiving the customer identifier. For anotherexample, for a stack of documents, the device is configured to image(2056), extract (2058), create records (2060), and/or store records(2062) for different ones of the respective documents simultaneously.

Referring to FIG. 20D, a flowchart describing a method 2051 forprocessing currency bills in an imaging multiple pocket documentprocessing device and/or system using the adjacent bills of FIG. 20C isshown according to some embodiments. According to some embodiments, inresponse to the completion of the method 2050, an operator of the device(“initial device”), described above in reference to FIG. 20C, physicallytransports a batch of bills from the initial device to an imaging MPSfor further processing. It is contemplated that the operator transportsthe batch of bills along with a plurality of additional batches of billsassociated with one or more customer identifiers. For example, theoperator can transport the batches of bills in a tray commonly used inbank vaults. According to some embodiments, the operator maintains batchintegrity of the batches of bills by positioning the batches in the traysuch that each batch is transported in substantially the same order asinitially processed by the device. According to some alternativeembodiments, the operator maintains batch integrity of the batches ofbills by positioning the batches in the tray such that each batch isflanked or boarded by at least one header bill and/or at least onetrailer bill.

At act 2064, a batch of bills (e.g., five bills) is received in an inputreceptacle of an imaging MPS. The received batch of bills is one of thebatches of bills previously processed by an operator of the initialdevice described above in reference to FIG. 20C. As such, each of thefive bills in the batch of bills is associated with a record in adatabase. At act 2066, the imaging MPS images the batch of bills togenerate image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image ofat least a portion of each bill in the batch of bills as describedelsewhere herein, such as, for example, in the Document ProcessingDevice and System Section, and in other sections of the presentdisclosure. At act 2068, the imaging MPS extracts serial numbers fromthe generated image data in the same, or similar, manner as describedherein, such as, for example, as described in the Optical CharacterRecognition Section, and in other sections of the present disclosure.According to some embodiments, the imaging MPS extracts one serialnumber from the image data for each of bills in the batch of bills.According to some embodiments, the extracted serial numbers of the billsare temporarily stored in a memory of the imaging MPS. For example, foran exemplary batch of five bills, the following is a list of extractedserial numbers stored in the order that the bills were processed:CK98765432G, AB12345678A, DG56789123C, IF12345678B, and DG54321098C.

At act 2070, the imaging MPS authenticates the each bill in the batch ofbills. The imaging MPS can be configured to authenticate the bills usingone or more authentication sensors, such as, for example, theauthentication sensor 145 described above in the Document ProcessingDevice and System Section, and in other sections of the presentdisclosure. The one or more authentication sensors can be configured toauthenticate the bills based on one or more criteria and/orauthentication tests, such as, for example, those described herein inthe Document Processing Device and System Section, and in other sectionsof the present disclosure. It is contemplated that according to someembodiments, for a stack of documents, the acts 2066, 2068, and 2070 canbe performed for different ones of the respective documentssimultaneously.

At act 2072, the imaging MPS determines if a bill is a suspect billbased on the one or more authentication tests. In response to theimaging MPS determining that a bill is not suspect, the bill istransported to an output receptacle at act 2074.

In response to the imaging MPS determining that a bill is a suspectbill, the imaging MPS automatically determines the customer identifierassociated with the suspect bill at act 2076. For example, the imagingMPS determines that the second bill having serial number AB12345678A isa suspect bill based on, for example, one or more authentication tests.According to some embodiments, the imaging MPS is communicativelyconnected to the memory storing the database and/or records, discussedabove in reference to method 2050, such that the imaging MPS candetermine the customer identifier associated with each extracted serialnumber (AB12345678A) and/or denomination of the suspect bill. Accordingto some embodiments, the imaging MPS is configured to automaticallysearch or query a database for records including the serial number(AB12345678A) and/or denomination of the suspect bill. In some suchembodiments, the imaging MPS determines that a single record exists witha serial number (and/or denomination) matching the suspect serial number(and/or denomination). In some such embodiments, the imaging MPSdetermines or otherwise reads the customer ID tagged to the matchingrecord and can transmit a chargeback signal or instruction at act 2082to chargeback a customer that deposited the suspect bill associated withthe customer ID and/or record having the serial number (and/ordenomination) that matches the suspect serial number (and/ordenomination).

According to some embodiments, the imaging MPS determines that two ormore records exist with a serial number (and/or denomination) matchingthe suspect serial number (AB12345678A) (and/or denomination). Forexample, the imaging MPS determines that the second bill having serialnumber AB12345678A is a suspect bill. In response to being determined tobe suspect, the imaging MPS determines that two records in the databaseinclude the same serial number (AB12345678A) (and/or denomination). Insome such embodiments, the imaging MPS is configured to automaticallydetermine which one of the two records is associated with and/orcorresponds with the suspect bill. As each of the two records includesan extracted serial number that matches the serial number of the suspectbill, the imaging MPS is configured to compare extracted serial numbers(and/or denomination) of adjacent bills with respect to the suspect billwith serial numbers (and/or denomination) in one or more of theadjacent-serial-number fields of the two records. That is, the imagingMPS determines which one of the two records corresponds with the suspectbill based on the serial numbers of one or more adjacent bills withrespect to the suspect bill. For example, a first one of the recordsincludes a first adjacent-serial-number field that contains the serialnumber: CK98765432G and a second adjacent-serial-number field thatcontains the serial number: DG56789123C. Similarly, a second one of therecords includes a first adjacent-serial-number field that contains theserial number: AL45678901C and a second adjacent-serial-number fieldthat contains the serial number: BD98765432A. The imaging MPS isconfigured to compare the two respective adjacent serial numbers in thefirst and the second records with the list of extracted serial numbersthat includes the adjacent serial numbers of the suspect bill todetermine which one of the two records is associated with the suspectbill. That is, the imaging MPS compares the adjacent serial numbers(CK98765432G and DG56789123C) of the first record and the adjacentserial numbers (AL45678901C and BD98765432A) of the second record withthe list of extracted serial numbers for the batch of bills beingprocessed (CK98765432G, AB12345678A, DG56789123C, IF12345678B, andDG54321098C). In such example, a comparison of the adjacent serialnumbers from the first and the second records with the list indicatesthat the adjacent serial numbers of the second bill (the suspect bill)in the list match the adjacent serial numbers in theadjacent-serial-number fields of the first record. As such, the imagingMPS determines that the first record matches and the second record,while including a matching serial number, does not match—that is, thesecond record is not associated with the suspect bill.

In response to determining which one of the two or more recordscorresponds with the suspect bill, the imaging MPS determines a customeridentifier associated with the suspect bill as the matching recordincludes the customer identifier received in the act of 2052 of themethod 2050.

According to some alternative embodiments, in response to the imagingMPS determining that a bill is a suspect bill at act 2072 anddetermining a customer identifier associated therewith at act 2076, thesuspect bill can be transported to a suspect or reject receptacle at act2078. That is, according to some embodiments, the imaging MPS isconfigured to off-sort suspect bills, at act 2078, for an operator tofurther process the suspect bills. According to some alternativeembodiments, the imaging MPS is configured to generate, transmit, and/orprint a report including information regarding any determined suspectbill, including, for example, the serial number of the suspect bill, itsdenomination, and the associated customer ID.

According to some alternative embodiments, the imaging MPS can beconfigured to further transport one or more adjacent bills to the rejectreceptacle at act 2080. That is according to some embodiments, theimaging MPS determines that a bill is a suspect bill and off-sorts thesuspect bill and one or more adjacent bills with respect to the suspectbill to the same receptacle containing the off-sorted suspect bill.After the imaging MPS completely processes the batches of bills,according to some alternative embodiments, an operator can remove thesuspect bill(s) and the one or more adjacent bills from the rejectreceptacle and manually lookup customer identifiers associated with thesuspect bill(s) and/or the one or more adjacent bills. For example, theoperator can search a database of records for a record including aserial number matching the serial number of the suspect bill and/or theone or more adjacent bills in the same or similar fashion as describedherein in the Modes of Operation—Searching/Master Database Section, andin other sections of the present disclosure, and in connection withFIGS. 12C-12F. According to some such embodiments, the operator canchargeback a customer determined to have deposited the suspect billbased on the manual lookup. Such a chargeback process is advantageousfor situations in which the database includes multiple records fordifferent bills having the same serial number. That is, off-sorting oneor more adjacent bills along with the suspect bill aids the operator incharging-back the correct customer for the suspect bill, as the recordswere created to include an extracted serial number of one or moreadjacent bills in the act 2060 of the method 2050, which are allassociated with other records that are associated with and/or taggedwith the customer identifier to be charged-back.

While the acts 2064, 2066, 2068, 2070, 2072, 2074, 2076, 2078, 2080, and2082 are illustrated and described in a particular sequence, it iscontemplated that the method 2051 can be performed in a variety ofdifferent orders and/or with one or more acts occurring simultaneously.For example, for a stack of documents, the device can be configured toreceive (2064), image (2066), extract (2068), authenticate (2070),determine IDs (2076), transport (2074, 2078, 2080), and/or chargeback(2082) for different ones of the respective documents simultaneously.

Document Auditing and Tracking

According to some embodiments, a document processing device and/orsystem of the present disclosure, such as system 100, devices 101, 101′,101 a,b, 1410 a-c, 1510, 1610, 1710 can be used to track physicallocations of documents, such as, for example, currency bills and/orchecks, received in and/or removed from one or more document storagereceptacles, such as a teller drawer and/or a cash till. That is, adocument processing device can be used in combination with a tellerdrawer, in for example a bank, to track documents being stored in andbeing removed from the teller drawer throughout a work shift and/orworkday. To track currency bill locations, a device or system of thepresent disclosure can be configured to operate according to one or moreof the following document tracking modes: receive mode, deposit mode,sell mode, and/or audit mode. Such bill tracking can be useful forinternal auditing purposes in a bank, retail store, etc. For example,the tracking of the physical locations of bills throughout a work shiftcan allow an operator to automatically reconcile his or her tellerdrawer at the end of the shift. To reconcile the operator's drawer, theoperator re-runs all of the bills in the drawer in the audit mode of thedevice, which is further described below in reference to FIG. 21C. Thedevice operating in audit mode is configured to generate a balancesignal and/or indication to indicate to a teller that the teller'sdrawer is properly balanced, and/or is configured to generate a variancereport to indicate to the teller and/or someone else (e.g., the teller'smanager) that one or more documents are missing and/or are unexpectedlypresent in the teller's drawer. According to some embodiments, thevariance report includes a serial number and denomination of any no-showcurrency bill and any unexpected currency bill. According to somealternative embodiments, the variance report includes one or moreimages, such as, for example, a full image of one or both sides of abill and/or one or more snippet images of a portion(s) of a bill.

While the following description is in reference to a document processingdevice or the document processing device 101, it is contemplated thatthe document processing devices 101, 101′, the document processingdevices 101 a,b, the document processing devices 1410 a-c, 1510, 1610,1710, and/or the document processing system 100 can be configured toperform the same, or similar, methods and/or operations as described inreference to FIGS. 21A-D.

Referring to FIG. 21A, a method 2100 a of recording an expected locationof a currency bill using a document processing device, such as thedocument processing device 101 operating in a receive mode and/or adeposit mode, is illustrated according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. According to some embodiments, the receive modeand/or the deposit mode can be selected and/or activated by an operatorof the document processing device 101, via control panel 170. Accordingto some embodiments, such modes can be selected or activated prior toreceiving documents such as currency bills in the device 101.

According to some embodiments, after the device processes the receiveddocuments, the documents are physically stored in a first predeterminedphysical location, such as, for example, a teller drawer of theoperator. According to some embodiments, the first predeterminedphysical location can be preprogrammed and/or manually programmed intothe device by the operator. According to some embodiments, the operatorcan select and/or activate, through one or more electronic menus, thefirst predetermined physical location (e.g., a first document storagereceptacle) prior to, during, and/or subsequent to processing bills.

At act 2101, the device receives a plurality of currency bills. Thebills are received in an input receptacle of the device, such as, forexample, the input receptacle 110, 110′, described above in reference toFIGS. 1 and 2A-2C. According to some embodiments, in the deposit modeand/or the receive mode, bills can be received for deposit by a bankcustomer into a financial institution for a credit. Additionally,according to some embodiments, in the receive mode only, bills can bereceived from a backroom or vault of a bank to stock a teller's drawerand/or till for use throughout a work shift. Similarly, according tosome embodiments, in the receive mode only, bills can be received from avault or safe in a retail store to stock or refill a clerk's cash tillfor use throughout a work shift.

According to some embodiments, at act 2102, the bills are transportedalong a transport path, one at a time, in a non-overlapping serialmanner past an image scanner to one or more output receptacles in thesame, or similar, manner as described elsewhere herein, such as inreference to FIG. 1. At act 2103, image data is generated for each oneof the bills, in the same, or similar, manner as described elsewhereherein, such as, for example, in the Optical Character RecognitionSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure, and inreference to FIG. 1. The image data associated with a respective bill isreproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of therespective bill. At act 2104, a denomination is determined and/or aserial number is extracted from the image data for each of the bills asdescribed above, for example, in the Optical Character RecognitionSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure.

At act 2105, a record is generated for each of the bills. According tosome embodiments, each record includes a plurality of data fields forstoring information, such as, for example, currency bill identifyinginformation and/or bill tracking information. At least some of the datafields can be the same as, or similar to, the data fields describedabove in reference to FIGS. 3A-3D. According to some embodiments, thedata fields include a serial number field, an image field, a physicalbill location field, and a denomination field. According to someembodiments, the device is configured to populate each of the datafields with corresponding information. For example, the device can beconfigured to populate the serial number field with a respective one ofthe extracted serial numbers and the image field with at least a portionof an image of a respective one of the bills, such as, for example, asshown in FIGS. 3A-3D.

According to some embodiments, the physical bill location fieldindicates that a respective bill is expected to be physically located inthe predetermined physical location, which can be preprogrammed and/orselected to be, for example, a first document storage receptacle, aspecific teller drawer, a specific teller till, a teller tray, a clerktill, a cash till, a vault, a safe, etc. That is, according to someembodiments, upon generating a record in the receive mode and/or thedeposit mode, the device 101 automatically assumes that the receiveddocuments will be removed from the output receptacle(s) of the deviceand physically located in the first predetermined physical location.Thus, the device 101 populates the physical bill location field of allgenerated records for the stack of bills being processed with the firstpredetermined physical location.

For example, in a bank, an operator can program or enter the firstpredetermined physical location to be the operator's teller drawer. Insuch an example, all bills received and processed by the operator in thedeposit mode and/or the receive mode will result in respective recordsbeing generated that each indicate that the expected physical locationof each respective bill is the teller drawer of the operator. Accordingto some embodiments, the device is configured to receive an indicationof the identity of the operator of the device (such as by the entry of ateller identifier, an operator number, and/or password) and the devicesets the physical location field to be a location associated with theoperator, such as, for example, the operator's teller drawer. Accordingto some embodiments, the device assumes that the first predeterminedlocation is the operator's teller drawer until the operator enters orprograms a different location, such as, for example, a tray.

For another example, in a bank, an operator can program or enter thefirst predetermined physical location to be a first tray of theoperator. In such an example, all bills received and processed by theoperator in the deposit mode and/or the receive mode will result inrespective records being generated that each indicate that the expectedphysical location of each respective bill is the first tray of theoperator. According to some embodiments, the first tray receives largecash deposits that are not needed as inventory in the operator's tellerdrawer. According to some embodiments, in response to the first traybeing full of currency bills or otherwise, the operator can program orenter the first predetermined physical location to be a second tray ofthe operator.

The physical bill location field indicates a physical location of wherea bill is expected to be physically located and not where the bill isactually physically located. Such is the case because after processingreceived bills and generating the records as described above, anoperator or someone else may purposefully and/or accidentally tamperwith or change a bill's physical location, such as, for example, bymoving bills into and/or out-of the teller drawer without otherwiseupdating the physical bill location field in the affected records. Suchtampering or movement can result in an incorrect expected physicallocation indication in the physical bill location fields of the recordsassociated with tampered bills. As will be explained below in referenceto FIG. 21C, such a discrepancy can result in the generation of avariance report in response to auditing the contents of the tellerdrawer. According to some embodiments, the variance report includes aserial number and denomination of any no-show currency bill and anyunexpected currency bill.

According to some embodiments, at act 2106, the records are stored inone or more memory devices integral with and/or remote from the documentprocessing device 101. The memory device can include a data file, suchas, for example, a teller drawer file, that is configured to storeand/or organize all of the generated records in a searchable and/oraccessible database, such as, for example, the database 1200 a,bdescribed in the Modes of Operation—Searching/Master Database Section,and in other sections of the present disclosure. According to someembodiments, the database can be automatically accessible by the device101 and/or manually searchable by an operator. It is contemplated thataccording to some embodiments, the records can include any combinationof information illustrated in one or more of the bill records 300 a, 300c, and 300 d, shown in FIGS. 3A, 3C, and 3D and described above in theDocument Records and Data Files Section, and in other sections of thepresent disclosure.

According to some alternative embodiments, at act 2107, the receivedbills are stored in the first predetermined physical location, such as,for example, the teller's drawer. That is, according to someembodiments, for example, (1) each of the generated records in act 2105that is associated with a respective bill to be deposited for a creditto a customer's account is populated to indicate that the respectivebill is expected to be located in the teller drawer of the operator, and(2) the operator physically stores the bills in the teller drawer afterprocessing the bills in the receive mode or in the deposit mode.

According to some alternative embodiments, at act 2108, the devicegenerates a cash-in ticket. According to some embodiments, the cash-inticket is a record and/or receipt of documents/currency bills. Thecash-in ticket can be an electronic cash-in ticket record that is storedin the memory along with the data file and/or the cash-in ticket can beprinted and physically stored in the first predetermined physicallocation (e.g., the teller drawer) along with the received bills.According to some embodiments, a cash-in ticket is generated each timean operator receives currency bills, such as, for example, each time anoperator receives and processes a deposit of documents includingcurrency bills from a bank customer. The cash-in tickets can include avariety of information including a total cash-in amount, a transactionidentifier, a customer account number, a teller identifier, a cash-intime, etc. As described below in reference to FIG. 21C, the cash-intickets can be used to reconcile the contents of the first predeterminedphysical location (e.g., the teller drawer) based on a comparison of aninitial value of bills in, for example, the teller drawer, plus thevalue of bills added to the teller drawer, minus the value of billsremoved from the teller drawer with a calculated total value of billsactually in the teller drawer at the time of reconciliation.

While the acts 2101, 2102, 2103, 2104, 2105, and 2106 are illustratedand described in a particular sequence, it is contemplated that themethod 2100 a can be performed in a variety of different orders and/orwith one or more acts occurring simultaneously. For example, for a stackof documents, the device can be configured to receive (2101), transport(2102), generate image data (2103), extract (2104), generate records(2105), and/or store records (2106) for different ones of the respectivedocuments simultaneously. Similarly, while the acts 2107 and 2108 areillustrated and described in a particular sequence, it is contemplatedthat the method 2100 a can be performed in a variety of differentorders. For example, the cash-in ticket can be generated (2108) prior tostoring (2107) the received bills.

Referring to FIG. 21B, a flowchart describing a method 2100 b ofupdating an expected physical location of a currency bill, in a sellmode, from a first predetermined physical location to a secondpredetermined physical location, using a document processing device,such as the document processing device 101, is illustrated according tosome embodiments of the present disclosure. According to someembodiments, the sell mode can be selected and/or activated by anoperator of the document processing device 101, via control panel 170.According to some embodiments, an operator of the device selects oractivates the sell mode prior to receiving documents removed from thefirst predetermined physical location that are to be physically movedand stored in the second predetermined physical location, such as, abank customer's possession, a vault, a backroom, a second documentstorage receptacle, etc.

According to some embodiments, the second predetermined physicallocation can be preprogrammed and/or manually programmed or entered intothe device by the operator. According to some embodiments, the operatorcan select or activate, through one or more electronic menus, the secondpredetermined physical location (e.g., a second document storagereceptacle) prior to, during, and/or subsequent to processingsell-bills.

According to some embodiments, at act 2110, the device 101 electricallyaccesses a data file, such as, for example, the teller drawer filedescribed above in reference to FIG. 21A. It is contemplated that,according to some embodiments, the device 101 can be configured toselectively access the teller drawer file to write, read, and/or modifyrecords contained therein. For example, the device can update and/orchange the indication in the physical bill location field for one ormore records from the first predetermined physical location (e.g.,teller drawer) to the second predetermined physical location (e.g.,customer, vault, backroom, second document storage receptacle, other,etc.).

At act 2111, the device receives a plurality of sell-bills. According tosome embodiments, sell-bills are currency bills that are removed from afirst predetermined physical location that are to be physically storedin a second predetermined physical location. The sell-bills are receivedin an input receptacle of the device, such as, for example, the inputreceptacle 110, 110′, described above in reference to FIGS. 1 and 2A-2C.According to some embodiments, in the sell mode, the sell-bills can bebills that are received from an operator's teller drawer to be withdrawnby a bank customer. Alternatively, the sell-bills can be excess bills ina teller drawer and/or tray to be sold to a backroom and/or vault of abank. Similarly, the sell-bills can be from a retail clerk's cash tillto be securely stored in a vault and/or safe in a retail store.

According to some embodiments, at act 2112, the sell-bills aretransported along a transport path, one at a time, past an image scannerto one or more output receptacles in the same, or similar, manner asdescribed elsewhere herein, such as in reference to FIG. 1. At act 2113,image data is generated for each one of the sell-bills, in the same, orsimilar, manner as described elsewhere herein, such as, for example, inthe Optical Character Recognition Section, and in other sections of thepresent disclosure, and in reference to FIG. 1. The image dataassociated with a respective sell-bill is reproducible as a visuallyreadable image of at least a portion of the respective sell-bill. At act2114, a denomination is determined and/or a serial number is extractedfrom the image data from each of the sell-bills as described above, forexample, in the Optical Character Recognition Section, and in othersections of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, at act 2115, the physical bill locationfield of each record in the data file that is associated with one of thesell-bills is updated to indicate that the respective sell-bill is nolonger expected to be physically located in the first predeterminedphysical location. That is, upon receiving and processing sell-bills inthe sell mode, the device 101 automatically assumes that the receivedsell-bills will be removed from the first predetermined physicallocation and moved to a second predetermined physical location. Thus,according to some embodiments, the device accesses the data file andoverwrites or updates the physical bill location fields of all recordsassociated with sell-bills with the second predetermined physicallocation. According to some alternative embodiments, rather thanoverwriting the physical bill location, the device updates therespective records to indicate that the expected physical bill locationchanged from the first predetermined physical location to the secondpredetermined physical location. That is, for example, an operatorviewing the record on a display device can view a history of expectedlocations of the respective bill. For example, the operator can see thatthe bill was initially expected to be in the first predeterminedphysical location, but is expected to be in the second predeterminedphysical location.

For example, in a bank, an operator can program the second predeterminedphysical location to be a customer's possession, such that allsell-bills received and processed by the operator in the sell moderesult in respective records being updated to indicate that the expectedphysical location of each of the sell-bills is the customer'spossession. It is contemplated that the customer possession indicationcan be generic to all customers or specific to a unique customeridentifier. For example, for a customer having an account number003659123, the device can automatically access and change the physicalbill location fields to indicate that each sell-bill is now expected tobe located with the customer having account number 003659123. Foranother example, in a bank, an operator can program the secondpredetermined physical location to be a teller tray of the operator,such that all sell-bills received and processed by the operator in thesell mode result in respective records being updated to indicate thatthe expected physical location of each of the sell-bills is the tellertray of the operator. It is contemplated that the teller tray indicationcan be specific to a particular tray having a unique tray identifier.

According to some alternative embodiments, at act 2115, in lieu ofupdating records as described above, all records in the data fileassociated with sell-bills can be deleted and/or otherwiseelectronically removed from the data file, such that the data file onlyincludes records associated with bills expected to be physically locatedin the first predetermined physical location (e.g., the teller drawer).That is, upon receiving and processing sell-bills in the sell mode, thedevice 101 automatically assumes that the received sell-bills will beremoved from the first predetermined physical location and moved to thesecond predetermined physical location. Thus, in response to receivingthe sell-bills in the sell mode, according to some embodiments, thedevice removes all records associated with the sell-bills from the datafile associated with the first predetermined physical location.

According to some embodiments, prior to updating or removing the recordsin act 2115, the device 101 compares the sell-bills and/or informationextracted/derived therefrom with the records in the corresponding datafile to determine, which, if any, of the records correspond with each ofthe sell-bills. According to some embodiments, for each sell-bill thedevice compares the extracted serial number and/or determineddenomination of the sell-bill with serial numbers and/or denominationsincluded in the records to determine which record corresponds with thesell-bill. That is, the device accesses the records in the data file tofind a record having a serial number and/or denomination that matchesthe extracted serial number and denomination of the sell-bill todetermine which record should be updated or removed to indicate that thesell-bill was removed from the first predetermined physical location.

The accessed records in act 2110 are associated with bills expected tobe in the first predetermined physical location, such as a tellerdrawer. Thus, any sell-bills removed from the teller drawer should havea corresponding record in the data file. However, as discussed above, itis contemplated that an operator or someone else may purposefully and/oraccidentally tamper with or change a bill's physical location. Suchtampering or movement can result in an incorrect expected physicallocation indication in the physical bill location fields of the recordsassociated with tampered bills. Similarly, such tampering or movementcan result in a sell-bill not having a corresponding record in the datafile, which would indicate that the sell-bill was not expected to be inthe teller drawer. It is contemplated that such discrepancies can resultin one or more error messages during the processing of the sell-bills.The error messages can indicate to an operator or another entity, forexample, that a sell-bill was not expected to be physically located inthe teller drawer. Such a scenario is possible in response to anoperator putting bills in the teller drawer without first processing thebills with the device 101 in the receive mode or the deposit modeaccording to the methods described herein in reference to FIG. 21A. Itis contemplated that the error message(s) can be automaticallytransmitted to a third party, such as a manager.

According to some alternative embodiments, at act 2116, the sell-billsare stored in the second predetermined physical location, such as acustomer's possession. That is, according to some embodiments, forexample, (1) each of the records that is associated with a sell-bill isupdated to indicate that the respective sell-bill is expected to belocated in a customer's possession and not the teller drawer, and (2)the operator physically transfers the sell-bills to the customer'spossession after processing the sell-bills in the sell mode.

According to some alternative embodiments, at act 2117, the devicegenerates a cash-out ticket. According to some embodiments, the cash-outticket is a record and/or receipt of documents. The cash-out ticket canbe an electronic cash-out ticket record stored in the memory along withthe data file and/or the cash-out ticket can be printed and stored inthe first predetermined physical location (e.g., the teller drawer)along with the bills therein. According to some embodiments, a cash-outticket is generated each time an operator sells and/or removes billsfrom, for example, the teller drawer. The cash-out tickets can include avariety of information including a total cash-out amount, a transactionidentifier, a customer account number, a teller identifier, a cash-outtime, etc. As described below in reference to FIG. 21C, the cash-outtickets can be used to reconcile the contents of the first predeterminedphysical location (e.g., the teller drawer) based on a comparison of aninitial value of bills in, for example, the teller drawer, plus thevalue of bills added to the teller drawer, minus the value of billsremoved from the teller drawer with a calculated total value of billsactually in the teller drawer at the time of reconciliation.

According to some embodiments, a device configured to operate in a sellmode is embodied in an automated teller machine (ATM). According to suchembodiments, in response to a customer withdrawing currency bills, theATM images each currency bill and creates a record for each currencybill and/or updates a record in memory associated with the currencybills being withdrawn to indicate a new expected location of thecurrency bill(s). The records can include an extracted serial number,image data, or a variety of other information, such as the informationdescribed in the Document Records and Data Files Section, and in othersections of the present disclosure, and in connection with FIGS. 3A-3F.The records can be stored in a database, such as, for example, thedatabases described in the Modes of Operation—Searching/Master DatabaseSection in connection with FIGS. 12A and 12A, in the Document ProcessingDevice Operations in a Financial Institution System Section inconnection with FIGS. 14-17, and in other sections of the presentdisclosure. According to some embodiments, such a sell mode in an ATMallows a financial institution that owns, operates, and/or controls theATM to track currency bills dispensed to customers. For example, acustomer enters a bank stating a $20 bill he received from the bank'sATM is counterfeit and that he wants a non-counterfeit $20 bill instead.According to some embodiments, a bank employee can verify the customer'sassertion by searching a database of records, such as described in theModes of Operation—Searching/Master Data Base Section, and in othersections of the present disclosure, and in connection with FIGS.12A-12G, to determine if the supposed counterfeit was in fact dispensedby the bank's ATM to the customer. That is, according to someembodiments, the bank employee searches a database of records for arecord including a serial number that matches the counterfeit's serialnumber. In response to a determining a matching record, the bankemployee can determine if that currency was in fact dispensed to thecustomer based on a review of customer related information tagged toand/or contained within the matching record (e.g., customer accountnumber).

While the acts 2110, 2111, 2112, 2113, 2114, and 2115 are illustratedand described in a particular sequence, it is contemplated that themethod 2100 b can be performed in a variety of different orders and/orwith one or more acts occurring simultaneously. For example, for a stackof documents, the device can be configured to access (2110), receive(2111), transport (2112), generate image data (2113), extract (2114),and/or update or remove (2115) for different ones of the respectivedocuments simultaneously.

Referring to FIG. 21C, a flowchart describing a method 2100 c ofreconciling currency bills, in an audit mode, using a documentprocessing device, such as the document processing device 101, isillustrated according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.According to some embodiments, the Audit mode can be selected and/oractivated to run by an operator of the document processing device 101,via control panel 170. According to some embodiments, an operator of thedevice selects or activates the audit mode prior to receiving documents,such as currency bills, removed from the first predetermined physicallocation (e.g., the teller drawer) that are to be reconciled.

According to some embodiments, at act 2120, the device 101 electricallyaccesses a data file, such as, for example, the teller drawer file, inthe same, or similar manner as described above in reference to FIGS. 21Aand 21B. For example, the device can access and/or look-up therespective indications in the physical bill location fields for therecords in the data file to determine the expected physical location foreach bill associated with a record in the data file.

At act 2121, the device receives a plurality of audit-bills. Accordingto some embodiments, audit-bills include all of the currency bills thatare stored in a first predetermined physical location, such as theteller drawer as described above in reference to FIGS. 21A and 21B. Theaudit-bills are received in an input receptacle of the device, such as,for example, the input receptacle 110, 110′, described above inreference to FIGS. 1 and 2A-2C. According to some embodiments, in theaudit mode, the audit-bills can be the bills that are received from anoperator's teller drawer to be reconciled to determine if the tellerdrawer balances.

According to some embodiments, at act 2122, the audit-bills aretransported along a transport path, one at a time, past an image scannerto one or more output receptacles in the same, or similar, manner asdescribed elsewhere herein, such as in reference to FIG. 1. At act 2123,image data is generated for each one of the audit-bills, in the same, orsimilar, manner as described elsewhere herein, such as, for example, inthe Optical Character Recognition Section, and in other sections of thepresent disclosure, and in reference to FIG. 1. The image dataassociated with a respective audit-bill is reproducible as a visuallyreadable image of at least a portion of the respective audit-bill. Atact 2124, a denomination is determined and/or a serial number isextracted from the image data from each of the audit-bills as describedabove, for example, in the Optical Character Recognition Section, and inother sections of the present disclosure.

At act 2125, an audit record is generated for each of the audit-bills.According to some embodiments, the audit records are the same as, orsimilar to the generated records discussed above in reference to FIG.21A. According to some embodiments, each audit record includes aplurality of data fields for storing information, such as, for example,currency bill identifying information and/or bill tracking information.At least some of the data fields can be the same as, or similar to, thedata fields described above in reference to FIGS. 3A-3D. According tosome embodiments, the data fields include a serial number field and adenomination field. According to some embodiments, the device isconfigured to populate each of the data fields with correspondinginformation. For example, the device can be configured to populate theserial number field with a respective one of the extracted serialnumbers and the denomination field with a respective denomination of arespective one of the audit-bills.

According to some embodiments, the device is configured to calculate atotal value of the audit-bills based on the denominations of theaudit-bills. It is contemplated that according to some embodiments, thecalculated total value of audit-bills can be compared with, for example,a running teller drawer total to reconcile the contents of the tellerdrawer. According to some embodiments, the running teller drawer totalis an up-to-date running total value of all bills expected to be in theteller drawer at that point of time. For example, at the beginning of ashift a teller's drawer is empty, which corresponds with a runningteller drawer total of $0.00. After receiving a $500 deposit from a bankcustomer, for example, the running teller drawer total is $500.According to some embodiments, the device 101 is configured toautomatically calculate and update the running teller drawer total inresponse to documents being removed from and/or deposited into theteller drawer.

According to some alternative embodiments, at act 2126, the auditrecords are stored in one or more memory devices integral with and/orremote from the document processing device 101. According to someembodiments, the audit records can be stored in the same and/ordifferent memory device that stores the corresponding data file. It iscontemplated that the audit records can be temporarily stored for asufficient amount of time to reconcile the audit bills or for a longer,more permanent, period of time such that, even after the audit modereconciles the audit-bills, the audit records remain in memory storage.

According to some embodiments, it is contemplated that the firstpredetermined physical location (e.g., the teller drawer) balances inresponse to each audit-bill and/or audit record corresponding with arecord in the data file that is associated with a bill expected to be inthe first predetermined physical location. According to someembodiments, at act 2127, the device 101 compares the audit recordsand/or information contained therein with the records in the data fileto reconcile the documents contained in the first predetermined physicallocation (e.g., the teller drawer). That is, for example, the devicedetermines if each one of the audit-bills removed from the teller drawercorresponds with a record in the data file having a physical billlocation field that indicates the respective-associated bill is expectedto be in the teller drawer.

According to some alternative embodiments, at acts 2128 and 2129, foreach audit-bill and/or audit record, the device compares the extractedserial number and/or determined denomination of the audit-bill withserial numbers and/or denominations included in the records of the datafile—including a physical bill location field indicating the tellerdrawer to be the expected location of the respective bill—to determinewhich record in the data file corresponds with the audit-bill. That is,the device accesses the records in the data file to find a record havinga serial number and/or denomination that matches the extracted serialnumber and determined denomination of the audit-bill to determine whichrecord, if any, corresponds with the audit-bill and/or the audit record.

At act 2130, according to some embodiments, the device determines if thefirst predetermined physical location (e.g., the teller drawer) balancesbased on the comparison from acts 2127 and/or acts 2128, 2129. Accordingto some embodiments, a record indicating that its associated bill isexpected to be in the first predetermined physical location (e.g., theteller drawer), should correspond with one of the audit-bills. That is,assuming no tampering or accidental movement has occurred with billsthat were supposed to be included and/or removed from the teller drawer,all of the audit bills should match up with a respective record in thedata file. According to some embodiments, an audit bill matches up withor corresponds with a record in the data file in response to a serialnumber and/or a denomination of the audit bill being the same as thedetermined and/or extracted denomination and/or serial number in therecord.

According to some embodiments, if the first predetermined physicallocation is determined to balance, at act 2131, a balance indication isgenerated. The balance indication can be an electronic signal, and/or avisual and/or an audible indication, which can indicate to a teller thatthe teller's drawer is properly balanced. For example, the control panel170 can visually display a “BALANCE” symbol to indicate to the operator,for example, that the contents of the teller drawer is balanced and/orreconciled. According to some embodiments, the device 101 or the system100 is configured to generate a balance report in response to thegeneration of a balance indication. According to some embodiments, thedevice or system is configured to send a balance indication and/orreport to bank manager when a teller's drawer balances. According tosuch embodiments, the bank manager can monitor when a balance indicationand/or report is received for all tellers working a particular shift todetermine when the drawers of all tellers are balanced.

According to some alternative embodiments, at act 2130, the devicedetermines if the first predetermined physical location (e.g., theteller drawer) balances based on a comparison of the total calculatedvalue of the audit-bills with a running teller drawer total. Accordingto some embodiments, the running teller drawer total can be calculatedas the initial value of bills in the teller drawer, plus a total of allcash-in amounts, minus a total of all cash-out amounts. According tosome such embodiments, it is contemplated that the first predeterminedphysical location balances in response to the calculated total value ofthe audit-bills equaling a total initial value of bills expected to bein the first predetermined physical location, plus a total value ofbills received in the first predetermined physical location, minus atotal value of bills removed from the first predetermined physicallocation. That is, if the initial value of bills in, for example, theteller drawer, plus the value of bills added to the teller drawer, minusthe value of bills removed from the teller drawer equals the calculatedtotal value of the audit-bills, then, at act 2131, the balanceindication is generated.

According to some embodiments, it is contemplated that the device onlygenerates the balance indication in response to (1) the devicedetermining that the first predetermined physical location (e.g., theteller drawer) balances based on the comparison from acts 2127 and/oracts 2128, 2129 and (2) the device determining that the firstpredetermined physical location balances based on the comparison of thetotal calculated value of the audit-bills with the running teller drawertotal.

According to some embodiments, in response to a teller's drawerbalancing and/or a balance indication being generated, an end-of-shiftdata file or an end-of-day data file is generated. According to somesuch embodiments, an end-of-shift data file includes a record for everydocument processed by a specific teller or by a group of tellers (e.g.,every teller in a specific branch of a bank) operating in a bank duringa specific shift and an end-of-day data file includes a record for everydocument processed by a specific teller or by a group of tellers (e.g.,every teller in a specific branch of a bank) operating in a bank duringa specific workday. According to some embodiments, the end-of-day datafile includes a total value of documents remaining in tellers' drawersat the end of the workday. Thus, the bank has an electronic record ofdocuments that the bank will have for the tellers to start the nextworkday. According to some embodiments, at the start of the nextworkday, the tellers rerun the documents in their respective tellerdrawers in the audit mode of operation to verify that all expecteddocuments are still in the teller's drawer.

According to some embodiments, if at act 2130 the first predeterminedphysical location (e.g., the teller drawer) is determined not tobalance, then a variance report is generated at act 2132. According tosome embodiments, the variance report includes a serial number anddenomination of any no-show currency bill and any unexpected currencybill. According to some embodiments, one or more error messages can bedisplayed to an operator in response to a variance report beinggenerated. The error messages can be displayed on the control panel ofthe device or another communicatively connected display. It iscontemplated that according to some embodiments, the error message isdisplayed on a touch screen display that further includes one or moreselection keys. The selection keys can include a “Print” key, an“E-Mail” key, an “Override” key, etc. The respective selection keys canbe configured to be selectively activated by the operator to cause thevariance report to print on a communicatively connected printer (Printkey), to electronically transmit the variance report to one or moreelectronic accounts, such as e-mail accounts (E-Mail key), and/or toignore or override the non-balance determination (Override key). It iscontemplated that in response to an operator activating the overrideelement, a message can be automatically transmitted to one or moreelectronic accounts, such as, for example, the operator's supervisor'se-mail account.

According to some embodiments, the first predetermined physical locationcan fail to balance due to one or more bills missing from the firstpredetermined physical location. Similarly, according to someembodiments, the first predetermined physical location can fail tobalance due to one or more unexpected bills being included in the firstpredetermined physical location. According to some embodiments, amissing bill expected to be physically located in the firstpredetermined physical location is called a no-show bill.

It is contemplated that according to some embodiments, the variancereport can indicate to the teller and/or someone else (e.g., theteller's manager) that one or more documents are missing and/orunexpectedly present in the first predetermined physical location (e.g.,the teller drawer). In response to receiving a variance report, anoperator and/or teller can then proceed to try and determine why thefirst predetermined physical location (e.g., the teller drawer) did notbalance. According to some alternative embodiments, at act 2133, theaudit-bills are returned to be physically stored in the firstpredetermined physical location, such as, for example, the tellerdrawer.

According to some embodiments, a bank operates with a multitude oftellers receiving deposits and dispensing currency bills into and fromrespective teller drawers. According to some embodiments, each tellerprocesses deposits and withdrawals according to the methods describedherein in the Document Auditing and Tracking Section, and in othersections of the present disclosure, and in connection with FIGS. 21A-21Cwith a document processing device. It is contemplated that each tellercan operate a respective document processing device or all tellers canshare one or more devices and/or systems. According to some embodiments,at the end of a bank shift, all of the tellers rerun the documents intheir respective drawers to reconcile their drawers as described above.According to some embodiments, the devices are communicatively connectedsuch that in response all teller drawers balancing except for a firstteller's drawer missing a bill (no-show document) having a specificdenomination and specific serial number and a second teller's drawerincluding an unexpected bill having the same specific denomination andthe same specific serial number, one or more of the devices and/orsystems, such as the device 101 and/or system 100, is configured togenerate a bank balance indication. According to some embodiments, theone or more devices and/or systems is configured to generate a bankbalance report in response to the generation of a bank balanceindication. According to some embodiments, the one or more devicesand/or systems is configured to send a bank balance indication and/orreport to a bank manager when all teller drawers balance collectively.For example, where reconciling all of the teller drawers as describedabove indicates that one teller drawer is missing a $100 bill havingserial number AB12345678B and that a second teller draw unexpectedlyincludes a $100 bill having serial number AB12345678B, one or more ofthe devices and/or systems is configured to indicate that the bankcollectively balances at the shift end.

According to some embodiments, if a bank manager is suspicious that aparticular teller is committing theft, the bank manager can arrive atany time of day and shut down that teller's window and run a completereconciliation of the documents in the teller's drawer in the audit modeof operation. It is contemplated that such an ability (audit mode) willimprove the accuracy of a bank's auditing/reconciliation ability andincrease the bank's ability to find employees committing theft.

According to some embodiments, a document processing device and/orsystem configured to operate in a receive/deposit mode, a sell mode, andan audit mode can be used in a retail store location in a similar manneras described above in reference to the devices and/or systems infinancial institutions/banks to increase security and/or reduce theft inthe retail store. According to some such embodiments, at the end of ashift or workday, a store clerk removes all documents in the clerk'sdrawer (clerk batch of documents) and processes the documents in thedevice to generate a record for each document. Each clerk follows thesame procedure, such that, the store obtains a data file with a recordfor all documents in the clerks' drawers (store batch of documents) atclosing and/or shift end. According to some embodiments, the clerk'sname and/or other clerk identifier is tagged to each record associatedwith a document processed by the clerk.

According to some such embodiments, in addition to processing the storebatch of documents, a clerk manually, or the device automatically,determines and separates excess currency bills from the store batch ofdocuments to be deposited at a bank for a credit. That is, the currencybills in the store batch of documents are counted and totaled and anexcess amount of the bills (bills not needed to start the next shift) isremoved such that the store is left with a sufficient amount of currencybills to start the next shift or workday. According to some embodiments,the remaining currency bills are put into the various clerk drawers andlocked until the next shift or workday. According to some embodiments,the excess bills are processed by the device in the sell mode such thatthe device updates the data file to reflect that some of the documentswere excess and therefore not expected to be in one of the clerk'sdrawers the following workday or shift in the same, or similar, manneras described above in reference to the sell mode of operation.

According to some embodiments, the device is configured to transmit theupdated data file of records associated with the excess batch of billsto a financial institution for a credit in the same, or similar, manneras described in the Deposit Transaction Section, the Electronic Portionof Deposit Transaction Section, in connection with FIGS. 4A and 4B, andin other sections of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, in response to the bank receiving thephysical bills, the bank can process the received bills and compare thereceived bills with the data file received from the store to determineif any of the expected documents are no-show documents and to determineif any unexpected documents were included in the same, or similar,manner as described above in the Physical Portion of Deposit TransactionSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure, and inconnection with FIGS. 4A and 4B. According to some embodiments, inresponse to the bank determining a discrepancy, an exception report canbe generated including a serial number and denomination (or otheridentifying information) of each missing document and/or each unexpecteddocument. According to some embodiments, the missing documents can betraced back to the appropriate store and appropriate store clerk andclerk drawer from which the missing bill was suppose to have beenreceived based on information (e.g., clerk's name, clerk identifier,etc.) included in the record associated with the missing bill. Forexample, a variance report is generated that indicates a $10 bill havingserial number 123 is missing from the store's deposit. The bank cannotify the store as to the denomination and serial number of the missingbill. The store can access a database of records and/or the data filesent to the bank for a credit and search for the record having theserial number of the missing bill in the same, or similar, mannerdescribed in the Modes of Operation—Searching/Master Database Section,and in other sections of the present disclosure. In response to findingthe corresponding record, a store manager can determine which storeemployee is associated with the shortage by reviewing the clerkidentifier in the corresponding record. According to some suchembodiments, the store manager can speak with the store employeeassociated with the shortage to try to determine what happened to the$10 bill and why it ultimately was not deposited at the bank.

According to some embodiments, a store can further enhance security byrequiring each clerk to process every sale transaction in the same, orsimilar, manner as described above in reference to the bank processingdeposit and withdrawal transactions with a device in the receive/depositmode and the sell mode. That is, a store can require each clerk tooperate a document processing device, such as device 101, 101′ at thepoint of sale. According to some embodiments, each clerk processes everydocument placed into and removed from the clerk's drawer during a workshift. For example, the clerk processes all documents to be placed intothe clerk's drawer (e.g., currency bills received from a customer aspayment for an item) in the deposit/receive mode of operation andprocesses all documents to be removed from the clerk's drawer (e.g.,currency bills to be used as change) in the sell mode of operation.According to some embodiments, clerks process all excess documents to besold from their drawer to a central store vault during their shift inthe sell mode of operation. According to some embodiments, theprocessing of all documents as described herein provides the store witha complete electronic record (database) of all transactions throughout aworkday or shift.

According to some embodiments, a document processing device such asdevice 101, 101′ is configured to operate in an employee audit mode ofoperation. According to some such embodiments, the employee audit modecan be used to compare currency bills in a bank employee's personalpossession, such as, for example, the employee's wallet, with one ormore teller drawer files to determine if any of the employee's bills areexpected to be located in one of the bank's teller drawers (e.g., thedrawer associated with the employee or a drawer of a differentemployee). According to some embodiments, in response to the devicedetermining that one of the employee's bills is expected to be in ateller drawer, the device is configured to generate an alert, such as,for example, automatically transmitting an e-mail to a bank manager orsupervisor indicating the discrepancy or potential theft. According tosome embodiments, a bank can require all employees to process theirpersonal bills at the beginning and/or at the end of a shift in a deviceoperating in the employee audit mode. According to some embodiments, thedevice generates and/or updates respective records and/or data files foreach employee to track each employee's personal currency throughout theemployee's employment at the bank.

While the acts 2120, 2121, 2122, 2123, 2124, 2125, 2126, 2127, 2128, and2129 are illustrated and described in a particular sequence, it iscontemplated that the method 2100 c can be performed in a variety ofdifferent orders and/or with one or more acts occurring simultaneously.For example, for a stack of documents, the device can be configured toaccess (2120), receive (2121), transport (2122), generate image data(2123), extract (2124), generate records (2125), store records (2126),and/or compare (2127, 2128, 2129) for different ones of the respectivedocuments simultaneously.

Referring to FIG. 21D, a flowchart describing a method of monitoring andreconciling currency bills 2100 d using a document processing device,such as the document processing device 101, is illustrated according tosome embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 2100 d can beimplemented throughout a work shift and/or a workday using the device101 to monitor and/or track bills being stored in and being removed froma first predetermined physical location, such as, for example, a tellerdrawer, and to audit the bills remaining therein at the end of the workshift and/or workday.

According to some embodiments, at act 2140, the device 101 electricallyaccesses a data file, such as, for example, the teller drawer filedescribed above in reference to FIGS. 21A-C. It is contemplated that,according to some embodiments, the device 101 can be configured toselectively access the teller drawer file to write, read, and/or modifyrecords contained therein in the same, or similar, manner as describedabove in reference to FIGS. 21B and 21C while running in a receiveand/or deposit mode, a sell mode, and/or an audit mode.

At act 2145, the device prompts an operator to enter into a receive modeof operation and/or determines whether the device is operating in thereceive mode. Alternatively, the operator can navigate through one ormore electronic menus on a control panel (e.g. control panel 170) of thedevice to select and/or activate the receive mode. In response to theoperator entering and/or selecting the receive mode, at act 2150, thedevice runs in the receive mode in the same, or similar, manner as thereceive mode and/or the deposit mode described above in reference toFIG. 21A.

After processing received documents in the device running the receivemode at act 2150, or in response to the operator not entering thereceive mode at act 2145, the device prompts an operator to enter into asell mode of operation and/or determines whether the device is operatingin the sell mode at act 2155. Alternatively, the operator can navigatethrough one or more electronic menus on the control panel of the deviceto select and/or activate the sell mode. In response to the operatorentering and/or selecting the sell mode, at act 2160, the device runs inthe sell mode in the same, or similar, manner as the sell mode describedabove in reference to FIG. 21B.

After processing sell documents in the device running the sell mode atact 2160, or in response to the operator not entering the sell mode atact 2155, the device prompts an operator to enter into an audit mode ofoperation and/or determines whether the device is operating in the auditmode at act 2165. Alternatively, the operator can navigate through oneor more electronic menus on the control panel of the device to selectand/or activate the audit mode. In response to the operator enteringand/or selecting the audit mode, at act 2170, the device runs in theaudit mode in the same, or similar, manner as the audit mode describedabove in reference to FIG. 21C.

After processing audit documents in the device running the audit mode atact 2170, or in response to the operator not entering the audit mode atact 2165, at act 2175 the device prompts an operator to continue and/orautomatically proceeds to act 2145. In response to the operatorcontinuing, at act 2175, the device can prompt the operator to enter anyone or more of the receive mode, the sell mode, and/or the audit mode asdescribed above. In response to the operator not continuing at act 2175,the method 2100 d ends at act 2180.

According to some embodiments, a teller accumulates excess currency inthe teller's drawer that the teller sells to a back room or vault.According to some such embodiments, the teller processes an excess batchof bills using a document processing device in a sell mode, as describedabove. According to some embodiments, the processing of the excess batchof bills updates records associated with each bill in the excess batchof bills to indicate that the excess bills are expected to be located inthe vault and not in the teller's drawer. According to some embodiments,the records associated with the excess bills are tagged with anexcess-batch number or identifier that uniquely identifies the group ofbills being sold to the vault in the same, or similar, manner that atransaction identifier uniquely identifies a batch of documentsdeposited by a customer in a bank.

According to some embodiments, the records are stored in a databaseaccessible by the teller via one or more devices and/or systems and by avault employee operating one or more document processing devices and/orsystems, such as, for example, document processing device 101, 101′and/or imaging MPS 400. According to some embodiments, the excess-batchidentifier is transmitted or otherwise sent to a device or system in thevault such that the vault operator is made aware of the incoming excessbatch of bills. According to some alternative embodiments, the recordsassociated with the teller batch number are grouped as a data file andtransmitted or otherwise made available to one or more documentprocessing devices and/or systems in the vault. According to someembodiments, the data file is stored in a memory device integral with atray used to physically move the bills being sold such that an operatorin the vault can scan or otherwise access the data file in the memory ofthe tray.

According to some embodiments, in response to the physical excess batchof bills being delivered to the vault, the vault operator can access therecords associated with the excess batch of bills. It is contemplatedthat the vault operator can determine from the accessed records a totalnumber of expected excess bills, a total expected value of excess bills,a teller identifier of the teller that sold the excess bills to thevault, among a variety of other information, such as the information inthe records and data files described in the Document Records and DataFiles Section, and in other sections of the present disclosure, and inconnection with FIGS. 3A-3E.

According to some embodiments, the vault operator processes the excessbatch of bills in a one or two output receptacle document processingdevice, such as, for example, document processing device 101, 101′, togenerate vault records and then moves the excess batch of bills to anon-imaging MPS for sorting. According to some alternative embodiments,the vault operator processes the excess batch of bills in an imagingMPS, to generate vault records, which eliminates the need for firstprocessing the excess batch of bills in a one or two output receptacleprocessing device. According to some embodiments, the documentprocessing device or the imaging MPS or a communicatively connectedcomputer is configured to compare the vault records with the recordsassociated with the excess batch of bills to determine if any of theexcess bills expected to be in the excess batch are no show bills or ifany bills not expected are present in the excess batch of bills(unexpected bills).

According to some embodiments, in response to the vault records allmatching and/or otherwise corresponding with the records associated withthe excess batch of bills, the imaging MPS is configured to generate abalance indication or signal. According to some embodiments, in responseto one or more of the vault records not matching and/or otherwisecorresponding with a record associated with the excess batch of bills,the imaging MPS is configured to generate a variance indication orreport (e.g., indicating the existence of one or more unexpecteddocuments). Similarly, according to some embodiments, in response to oneor more of the records associated with the excess batch of bills notmatching and/or otherwise corresponding with a vault record, the imagingMPS is configured to generate a variance indication or report (e.g.,indicating the existence of one or more no-show documents). According tosome embodiments, tracking excess batches of bills as described hereinprovides a financial institution, such as the bank in the above example,immediate visibility of shortages/overages as well as the teller fromwhich the shortage/overages originated.

According to some embodiments, continually operating document processingdevices and/or systems in a financial institution according to thereceive/deposit mode of operation and the sell mode of operationgenerates records for each document processed at the financialinstitution as described above. Thus, according to some suchembodiments, at the end of a shift or banking workday, for example, avariety of reports and/or information can be generated and/or otherwiseprepared for review by one or more financial institution employees. Forexample, a report including a total amount of currency withdrawn bycustomers by denomination and/or serial number can be generated. Foranother example, a sub-report by bank customer can be generated, whichincludes denominations and serial numbers of each bill withdrawn for therespective bank customers. For another example, a report including allof the currency bills deposited at a specific teller window by customerincluding serial number and denomination can be generated. For yetanother example, a report including a summary of all excess currencybills by denomination and serial number sold to the central vault (orsold to a head teller) can be generated. For another example, a reportincluding a net amount of currency bills by denominations and/or serialnumbers remaining in one or more teller drawers at the end of the day orshift can be generated.

According to some embodiments, a recycling system, such as the recyclingsystems described in the Document Processing Recycling System Sectionand in connection with FIGS. 19A and 19B, is configured to operate in areceive mode, a sell mode, and an audit mode. Accordingly, the recyclingsystem can operate in a receive mode when receiving documents to bestored in one of the vaults 1907 a,b,c and operate in the sell mode whendispensing documents from the recycle vault 1907 a. According to someembodiments, such a recycling system is used in a bank by a teller toreceive customer deposits and to dispense currency bills to customers.For example, in response to a bank customer requesting a withdrawal of$100, an operator of the recycling system enters a withdrawal amount of$100 into an input device (e.g., similar to the control panel 170) ofthe recycling system. The recycling system is configured to dispense$100 of currency bills from the recycle vault 1907 a and to update arecycle drawer file, similar to the teller drawer file discussed above,to indicate that the expected location of the dispensed bills is thecustomer's possession and no longer the recycle vault 1907 a.

Identifying Counterfeit Attributes of Suspect Documents

According to some embodiments, a document processing device and/orsystem, such as, for example, the document processing device 101, 101′,101 a, and/or system 100 can be used to identify and/or trackcounterfeit attributes of documents such as suspect currency bills. Thedocument processing device may identify a currency bill or document assuspect based on any of a number of attributes, including characterinformation extracted from the document, such as, for example, a serialnumber or a MICR line, non-conforming magnetic properties,non-conforming infrared characteristics, non-conforming UVcharacteristics, non-conforming iridescence characteristics,non-conforming thread characteristics, non-conforming watermarkcharacteristics, non-conforming paper characteristics, and other typesof security characteristics known in the art. The attribute(s) thattrigger the document, such as, for example, a currency bill, beingidentified as a suspect document by the document processing device canbe identified, associated, and/or tagged to the suspect document andstored, along with image data that is reproducible as a visuallyreadable image of at least a portion of the suspect document, in adatabase, a record, and/or a data file, such as, in the databases,records, and/or data files described elsewhere herein including, forexample, the databases, the records, and the data files described abovein the Document Records and Data Files Section, and in other sections ofthe present disclosure, and in reference to FIGS. 3A-3E, 12A-12B and14-17. According to some embodiments, a serial number of an identifiedsuspect bill can also be extracted and stored in the database. Suchinformation is stored so that it can be easily retrieved at some laterpoint in time for comparison with, for example, any other currency billsthat appear having the same serial number.

According to some embodiments, the record, data file, and/or databaseincluding the identification of the reason why a document was flagged assuspect can be stored in a memory in the device 101, 101′. According tosome embodiments, the record, data file, and/or database including theidentification of the reason why a document was flagged as suspect canbe stored in a memory located outside of the device 101, 101′, such asin computer 151 (FIG. 1), and/or in or more of the databases in FIGS.14-17.

It is contemplated that in some embodiments, a user of a documentprocessing device can provide an input as to whether to record the valueof the suspect document in the total of a transaction in the same, orsimilar, manner as described in the Modes of Operation—BlacklistSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure, and inreference to FIGS. 11A-11B. For example, a document processing devicemay allow a user to either reject a suspect document or to accept thedocument as genuine. The document processing device may, for example,include a “SUSPECT TRACKING” option that can be toggled on and off basedon a selection received from an operator. It may be desirable, as afurther example, for a document processing device to include a set-upmenu that allows a user to customize the processing of suspectdocuments. The set-up menu can include a setting that allows the user toselect a “REJECT” key, or similar selection element such as suspectelement 1131 a, during document processing operations. Selection of the“REJECT” selection element can either deduct the value of the suspectdocument from any accumulated totals, if the value was previously added,or the selection can keep the value of the suspect document from beingadded to the accumulated total.

According to some embodiments, selection of the “REJECT” selectionelement causes the suspect document information to be recorded in amemory or other storage device such as in a database that enables thesuspect document information to be retrieved at a later time. Thenon-conforming information that triggered the document to be identifiedas suspect may be recorded to the database and associated with thesuspect document. The recorded information can also include at least aportion of the document image, such as a currency bill image. Thedocument processing device can further include an “ACCEPT” key, orsimilar selection element such as override element 1132 a, the selectionof which causes the value of the suspect document to be added to anaccumulated total or which causes no change to be made to theaccumulated total, if the document value was previously included in arunning total for a particular set of documents being processed. Theselection of the “ACCEPT” selection element can also cause thenon-conforming information that triggered the document to be identifiedas suspect to be recorded into the database and associated with thesuspect document.

According to some embodiments, additional information can also berecorded upon the selection of the “ACCEPT” and “REJECT” selectionelements of a document processing device, including operator informationand document processing device information. Such information may bedesirable when suspect documents are subsequently assessed, such as inthe back room of financial institution or by the U.S. Federal Reserve,and determined to be counterfeit. The recorded information can then beused to track operator and document processing device effectiveness inscreening for suspect documents.

Automatic Report Generation

According to some embodiments, a document processing device and/orsystem of the present disclosure, such as, for example, one of thedocument processing devices 101, 101′, 101 a,b, 400, and/or the documentprocessing system 100, is configured to generate a counterfeit orsuspect instruction and/or signal in response to one of the documentprocessing devices determining that one or more currency bills beingprocessed by the device is a suspect currency bill. According to someembodiments, the device (e.g., device 101) automatically transmits acounterfeit instruction and/or signal to another device, such as, forexample, another device 101 designated as a counterfeit reportgenerating device that is integral with and/or communicatively coupledto a printing device. The counterfeit instruction and/or signal caninclude a variety of information related to the determined suspect bill.According to some embodiments, the counterfeit instruction and/or signalincludes information, such as, for example, a serial number, adenomination, a deposit transaction identifier, a suspect reason code, acustomer identifier, a customer account number, a teller identifier, adocument processing device identifier, a processing time, a batchidentifier, a subbatch identifier, or any combinations thereof.According to some embodiments, the counterfeit instruction and/or signalfurther includes additional identifying character information, such as,for example, a series, a back plate number, a check letter and quadrantnumber, a check letter and face plate number, a Federal Reserveletter/number. According to some embodiments, the counterfeitinstruction and/or signal further includes image data that isreproducible as one or more visually readable images. According to someembodiments, the counterfeit instruction includes a record orinformation in the record associated with the suspect document such asthe records discussed in the Document Records and Data Files Section,and in other sections of the present disclosure, and in connection withFIGS. 3A-3E.

According to some embodiments, in response to receiving the counterfeitinstruction and/or signal, the counterfeit report generating deviceautomatically populates data fields in a form with at least a portion ofthe information and/or data included in the counterfeit instructionand/or signal. For example, the counterfeit report generating device canautomatically populate respective data fields with all of or a portionof the following information: a serial number, a denomination, a series,a back plate number, a check letter and quadrant number, a check letterand face plate number, and a Federal Reserve letter/number and/or one ormore images, such as, for example, a serial number snippet, adenomination snippet, a Federal Reserve letter/number snippet, a checkletter and quadrant number snippet, a check letter and face platesnippet, a back plate number snippet, a series snippet, and/or a firstor second bill side image. According to some embodiments, the form is acounterfeit note report, such as, for example, a modified version ofU.S. Secret Service Form SSF1604.

According to some embodiments, the counterfeit report generating deviceautomatically prints a hardcopy of the populated form. According to someembodiments, the counterfeit report generating device automaticallye-mails and/or otherwise electronically transmits or makes available anelectronic copy of the automatically populated form. For example, thecounterfeit report generating device is configured to send e-mails tobank managers including the populated forms. For another example, thepopulated forms can be made available on a website for third partydownloading, such as, for example, by the U.S. Secret Service and/or bythe U.S. Federal Reserve.

According to some embodiments, the counterfeit instruction and/or signalis stored in a suspect queue memory in a format similar to that of arecord associated with a suspect document, the record being similar tothe records described above in the Document Records and Data FileSection, and in other sections of the present disclosure. The memorystoring the suspect queue can be integral with or communicativelycoupled to the counterfeit report generating device and/or the documentprocessing device. That is, according to some embodiments, thecounterfeit report generating device receives counterfeit instructionsand arranges the counterfeit instructions in a queue for subsequentviewing and/or processing by an operator of the counterfeit reportgenerating device. It is contemplated that the counterfeit reportgenerating device can be configured to receive counterfeit instructionsfrom a plurality of communicatively connected document processingdevices such as document processing device 101, 101′. According to someembodiments, the records in the suspect queue are grouped by teller thatinitially processed the suspect bills. It is contemplated that such agrouping by teller can aid a user in matching the records in the suspectqueue with the physical suspect bills retrieved from the varioustellers.

According to some alternative embodiments, the counterfeit reportgenerating device is a document processing device such as documentprocessing device 101, 101′. That is, the document processing device 101can be configured to automatically populate and print the forms directlyto a printing device integral with and/or communicatively coupled to thedevice 101. According to some embodiments, the counterfeit reportgenerating device is the same as, or similar to, the document processingdevice 101, which is configured to image documents at resolutions of atleast about, for example, 200 DPI×400 DPI, 400 DPI×200 DPI, 300 DPI×300DPI, 400 DPI×400 DPI.

For example, according to some embodiments, a bank includes a pluralityof document processing devices, such as, for example, documentprocessing devices 101, 101′, 101 a,b, 400, 1410 a-c, 1510, 1610, or1710 to process currency bills. Each of the devices is operated by arespective bank teller. In response to one of the document processingdevices determining that a currency bill being processed thereon is asuspect bill, the respective device automatically transmits acounterfeit instruction to a suspect queue memory. The counterfeitinstruction stored in the suspect queue can include, for example, thefollowing information: a serial number, a denomination, a customeridentifier, a teller identifier, a rejection code (e.g., RJ), or anycombination thereof.

In response to a device (e.g., 101, 101′, 101 a,b) detecting a suspectbill, the respective operator removes the suspect bill from the deviceand puts the bill in a separate location such as off to the side forsubsequent processing. According to some embodiments, a bank supervisor(user/operator) collects all of the suspect bills from the various banktellers for further processing, such as to confirm the suspect bills'suspect/rejected status and/or to generate a counterfeit report/form foreach determined suspect bill. According to some embodiments, thesupervisor processes the suspect bills in a counterfeit reportgenerating device such as a document processing device 101, 101′, 101a,b. According to some embodiments, the counterfeit report generatingdevice accesses the suspect queue and/or the supervisor accesses thesuspect queue via the counterfeit report generating device and/or aseparate computer coupled to the memory storing the suspect queue.

According to some embodiments, the supervisor confirms thesuspect/rejected status of each suspect bill manually and/or byprocessing the suspect bills in the counterfeit report generatingdevice, which can include more advanced counterfeit detection sensorsand/or equipment than the devices used initially by the tellers. Inresponse to the supervisor determining that a bill was wronglyclassified as and/or determined to be a suspect bill, the supervisor canremove the record associated with the bill from the suspect queue by,for example, activating a delete element adjacent to and/orcorresponding with the record. According to some such embodiments,deleting a record from the suspect queue tags the suspect bill or arecord associated therewith with a new status that indicates that therecord is associated with a bill that was initially determined to besuspect, but later accepted as being genuine or not suspect. Forexample, a status of “Accepted Corrected” or ACC can be used for suchpurposes.

According to some embodiments, in response to a record being deletedfrom the suspect queue, a credit report is automatically generated. Thecredit report can be printed and or electronically transmitted.According to some embodiments, the credit report is printed and a tellerreceives the report. The report can include instructions for the tellerto credit an account of a customer that originally deposited the bill.According to some embodiments, in response to a record being deletedfrom the suspect queue, a credit signal and/or instruction isautomatically generated and transmitted to an accounting system and/orteller system for crediting an account. According to some embodiments,the credit can occur automatically without any input from an operator orteller. Alternatively, input from a teller is needed to complete thecredit.

According to some embodiments, in response to a record being deletedfrom the suspect queue, the record is automatically deleted from anyblacklist databases. For example, in response to a bill being determinedto be suspect initially, the serial number and/or the denomination ofthe bill is added to a blacklist database. In response to the bill laterbeing determined to not be suspect, the serial number and/or thedenomination can be removed from the blacklist database. According tosome embodiments, the serial number and/or the denomination is onlyremoved from the blacklist database after a predetermined waitingperiod, such as, for example, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, etc.

According to some embodiments, in response to an operator of thecounterfeit report generating device confirming that a bill is a suspectbill, the operator then processes the suspect bill to generate acounterfeit report/form. According to some embodiments, the operatorgenerates/completes the counterfeit report/form using a reportgeneration wizard, such as described below in reference to FIG. 22. Theoperator can repeat the same process for each record in the suspectqueue. According to some alternative embodiments, at least a portion ofeach report is automatically completed/populated with information, data,and/or images included in the counterfeit instruction and/or signal.According to some embodiments, an operator prints partiallyautomatically populated reports/forms and manually fills in any missinginformation. It is contemplated that some information may not beautomatically populated due to an extraction error and/or due to thedevice being unable to extract certain data above a target confidencelevel. According to some such embodiments, the document processingdevice and/or system is configured to populate the report/form with asnippet image of an area of a bill which is suppose to contain theunextracted information/data that was supposed to be populated into thereport/form. According to some embodiments, in response to the documentprocessing device and/or system failing to automatically populateinformation due to an extraction error and/or due to the device/systembeing unable to extract certain data above a target confidence level,the document processing device is configured to attempt to auto-correctthe extraction error, such as, for example, by applying a second OCRroutine/algorithm and/or by applying the same OCR algorithm a secondtime. According to some embodiments, the document processing deviceand/or system is configured to populate the report/form with a snippetimage of an area of a bill which is suppose to contain the unextractedinformation/data that was supposed to be populated into the report/formonly after the device/system fails to properly extract the informationduring the auto-correction routine.

According to some embodiments, a counterfeit report is automaticallygenerated and populated for each record in the suspect queue in responseto an operator processing each of the suspect bills in the counterfeitreport generating device. According to some embodiments, the counterfeitreport generating device is configured to image currency bills andextract and/or otherwise determine the following information: a serialnumber, a denomination, a series, a back plate number, a check letterand quadrant number, a check letter and face plate number, a FederalReserve letter/number. According to some embodiments, the counterfeitreport generating device is configured to automatically populatecorresponding data fields and/or portions in a report and/or form withthe extracted data and/or with an associated snippet image. For example,an extracted serial number can be populated into the serial number fieldin the form and/or a serial number snippet image of the serial numbercan be populated into the serial number field in the form. For anotherexample, a determined denomination can be populated into thedenomination field in the form with or without a denomination snippetimage. Similarly, an extracted face plate number can be populated intothe face plate number field in the form with or without a face platesnippet image, an extracted check letter and quadrant number can bepopulated into the check letter and quadrant number field in the formwith or without a check letter and quadrant number snippet image, etc.for each record in the suspect queue. After a report isgenerated/populated, the operator can verify the information in thereport by looking at the physical bill and comparing the physical billwith the populated information, which can be shown on a display deviceintegral with and/or communicatively connected with the counterfeitreport generating device. If the report is acceptable, the operator canthen instruct or command the counterfeit report generating device toprint and/or electronically transfer the completed form(s) to one ormore locations, such as, for example, a computer system or websiteassociated with the United States Secret Service, the United StatesFederal Reserve, a bank manager, etc.

According to some embodiments, the operator can process a plurality ofsuspect bills at once by inserting the plurality of the suspect bills asa stack into an input receptacle of the counterfeit report generatingdevice. In such embodiments, the counterfeit report generating device isconfigured to image each bill thereby generating image data for eachbill and extracting the necessary information from each suspect billand/or the image data associated with each suspect bill and to populatea plurality of forms, one for each suspect bill. For example, thecounterfeit report generating device may denominate each bill using theimage data associated with each bill and/or the device may denominatethe bill without using the image data. Furthermore, the counterfeitreport generating device may extract alphanumeric characters from theimage data associated with a suspect bill, for example, the alphanumericcharacters in the serial number, series, back plate number, etc.According to some embodiments, the counterfeit report generating deviceis configured to use the determined and/or extracted information topopulate appropriate fields in an electronic version of an appropriatereport and/or form, such as, for example, a U.S. Secret Service FormSSF1604, or a modified/updated version thereof. The populatedreports/forms can be physically printed out on paper and/orelectronically sent to another location such as via the Internet orother computer network.

According to some embodiments, a document processing device and/orsystem of the present disclosure is configured to image currency billsto produce image data, extract information and/or data from the imagedata for each of the bills, generate a record for each of the billsincluding at least a portion of the extracted information and/or imagedata, and to automatically populate a counterfeit note report/form, suchas, for example, the U.S. Secret Service Form SSF1604 with at least someof the extracted information and/or image data at a rate of at leastabout 100 currency bills per minute.

According to some embodiments, a document processing device and/orsystem of the present disclosure is configured to image currency billsto produce image data, extract information and/or data from the imagedata for each of the bills, generate a record for each of the billsincluding at least a portion of the extracted information and/or imagedata, and to automatically populate a counterfeit note report/form, suchas, for example, the U.S. Secret Service Form SSF1604 with at least someof the extracted information and/or image data at a rate of at leastabout 200 currency bills per minute.

According to some embodiments, a document processing device and/orsystem of the present disclosure is configured to image currency billsto produce image data, extract information and/or data from the imagedata for each of the bills, generate a record for each of the billsincluding at least a portion of the extracted information and/or imagedata, and to automatically populate a counterfeit note report/form, suchas, for example, the U.S. Secret Service Form SSF1604 with at least someof the extracted information and/or image data at a rate of at leastabout 300 currency bills per minute.

According to some embodiments, a document processing device and/orsystem of the present disclosure is configured to image currency billsto produce image data, extract information and/or data from the imagedata for each of the bills, generate a record for each of the billsincluding at least a portion of the extracted information and/or imagedata, and to automatically populate a counterfeit note report/form, suchas, for example, the U.S. Secret Service Form SSF1604 with at least someof the extracted information and/or image data at a rate of at leastabout 500 currency bills per minute.

According to some embodiments, a document processing device and/orsystem of the present disclosure is configured to image currency billsto produce image data, extract information and/or data from the imagedata for each of the bills, generate a record for each of the billsincluding at least a portion of the extracted information and/or imagedata, and to automatically populate a counterfeit note report/form, suchas, for example, the U.S. Secret Service Form SSF1604 with at least someof the extracted information and/or image data at a rate of at leastabout 1000 currency bills per minute.

According to some embodiments, a document processing device and/orsystem of the present disclosure is configured to image currency billsto produce image data, extract information and/or data from the imagedata for each of the bills, generate a record for each of the billsincluding at least a portion of the extracted information and/or imagedata, and to automatically populate a counterfeit note report/form, suchas, for example, the U.S. Secret Service Form SSF1604 with at least someof the extracted information and/or image data at a rate of at leastabout 2000 currency bills per minute.

According to some embodiments, a document processing device and/orsystem of the present disclosure is configured to image currency billsto produce image data, extract information and/or data from the imagedata for each of the bills, generate a record for each of the billsincluding at least a portion of the extracted information and/or imagedata, and to automatically populate a counterfeit note report/form, suchas, for example, the U.S. Secret Service Form SSF1604 with at least someof the extracted information and/or image data at a rate of at leastabout 3000 currency bills per minute.

According to some embodiments, a printing device that is coupled to adocument processing device and/or system of the present disclosure isconfigured to receive report data from the document processing deviceand/or system and to print the report data as a counterfeit note reportthat includes populated information, such as, for example, extractedinformation and/or snippet images, at a rate of at least about 5 reportsper minute. According to some embodiments, a printing device that iscoupled to a document processing device and/or system of the presentdisclosure is configured to receive report data from the documentprocessing device and/or system and to print the report data as acounterfeit note report that includes populated information, such as,for example, extracted information and/or snippet images, at a ratebetween about 5 and about 50 reports per minute.

According to some embodiments, a document processing device and/orsystem of the present disclosure is configured to generate populatedcounterfeit report data and to transmit the populated counterfeit reportdata as an electronic counterfeit note report that includes populatedinformation, such as, for example, extracted information and/or snippetimages, at a rate of at least about 5 reports per minute. According tosome embodiments, a document processing device and/or system of thepresent disclosure is configured to generate populated counterfeitreport data and to transmit the populated counterfeit report data as anelectronic counterfeit note report that includes populated information,such as, for example, extracted information and/or snippet images, at arate of at least about 50 reports per minute. According to someembodiments, a document processing device and/or system of the presentdisclosure is configured to generate populated counterfeit report dataand to transmit the populated counterfeit report data as an electroniccounterfeit note report that includes populated information, such as,for example, extracted information and/or snippet images, at a ratebetween about 5 and about 50 reports per minute. According to someembodiments, a document processing device and/or system of the presentdisclosure is configured to generate populated counterfeit report dataand to transmit the populated counterfeit report data as an electroniccounterfeit note report that includes populated information, such as,for example, extracted information and/or snippet images, at a ratebetween about 50 and about 500 reports per minute.

Referring to FIGS. 23A-B, an example of the counterfeit report/formdescribed above is shown as a counterfeit note report or report 2300.According to some embodiments, the report 2300 includes various types ofinformational fields, such as, for example, one or more predeterminedtext fields, one or more predetermined instruction fields, one or morepredetermined financial institution/entity fields, and one or morepredetermined currency bill data fields. Various other types ofpredetermined fields are contemplated such as a predetermined customeridentifying information field.

According to some embodiments, each of the predetermined fields includedin the report has a predetermined location within the report. That is,each field has a predetermined or preset location on the report withrespect to the borders of the report/form. For example, in one type ofreport such as the report 2300, a predetermined text field 2301 ispositioned near a top of the form 2300, a predetermined instructionfield 2302 is positioned below the predetermined text field 2301, apredetermined financial institution/entity field 2303 is positionedbelow the predetermined instruction field 2302, and a plurality ofpredetermined currency bill data fields 2304 are positioned below thepredetermined financial institution/entity field 2303.

According to some embodiments, while the location of the predeterminedfields 2301, 2302, 2303, 2304 in the form are known/predetermined, theinformation contained within one or more of the respective predeterminedfields 2301, 2302, 2303, 2304 is not predetermined. For example, theinformation included in the predetermined currency bill fields 2304 isnot predetermined as the information is extracted from image dataassociated with a suspect bill and/or otherwise determined for a suspectbill. The extracted/determined information is then automaticallypopulated into the respective fields by the device or system, whereasthe information included in the predetermined text field 2301 ispredetermined, for example, as the information therein is generic to theform 2300.

According to some embodiments, a document processing device and/orsystem of the present disclosure is configured to extract data and/orinformation from image data associated with a bill determined to besuspect and/or counterfeit and to automatically populate at least aportion of the extracted data and/or information and/or images intorespective fields or sections of a report, such as, for example, report2300. According to some embodiments, additional information can bepopulated into respective fields or sections of the report, such as, forexample, customer identifying information can be populated into thepredetermined financial institution/entity field 2303. According to someembodiments, the populated information may include a currency note ID2310, contact information 2320 for the bank or financial institutionpreparing the counterfeit note report and information on the customer(e.g., a business, a person) from whom the counterfeit note wasreceived. The customer information may be obtain from electronicfinancial institution records that are connected through a financialinstitution network to the document processing device. Customerinformation may also be extracted from image data associated with aheader slip or deposit slip containing customer and other transactioninformation. The customer information can include the business name2350, address 2354, telephone numbers 2358, 2360, and the name of theperson surrendering the note to the financial institution 2356. Thereport 2300 may also include the name of the teller that received thecounterfeit note 2362 from the customer, which can be automaticallypopulated into the report by a document processing device and/or system.

Various fields, such as, for example, the plurality of predeterminedcurrency bill data fields 2304, in the report 2300 are automaticallypopulated by a device and/or system with information or data extractedand/or determined from image data associated with a suspect/counterfeitnote and/or from the suspect/counterfeit note itself such as, forexample, a denomination 2330 a, a Federal Reserve letter/number 2332 a,a check letter and/or quadrant number 2334 a, a check letter and faceplate number 2336 a, a back plate number 2338 a, a series letter and/oryear 2340a, and/or a serial number 2342 a.

According to some embodiments, the document processing device and/orsystem is configured to automatically populate one or more fields in thereport 2300 with a full or partial image of the front of the currencybill (not shown), a full or partial image of the back of the currencybill (not shown), a currency bill denomination snippet image 2330 b, acurrency bill federal reserve letter/number snippet image 2332 b, acurrency bill check letter and quadrant number snippet image 2334 b, acurrency bill check letter and face plate number snippet image 2336 b, acurrency bill back plate number snippet image 2338 b, a currency billseries snippet image 2340 b, and/or a currency bill serial numbersnippet image 2342 b.

According to some embodiments, extracted data and a correspondingsnippet image are both populated into a corresponding field in areport/form. For example, according to some embodiments, an extractedserial number 2342 a and a currency bill serial number snippet image2342 b are both populated into a corresponding one of the plurality ofpredetermined currency bill data fields 2304.

Yet, according to other embodiments, only one of extracted data and acorresponding snippet image is populated into a corresponding field in areport/form. For example, according to some such embodiments, only acurrency bill serial number snippet image 2342 b is populated into acorresponding one of the plurality of predetermined currency bill datafields 2304 and an extracted serial number 2342 a is not populatedtherein.

It is contemplated that according to some embodiments, a snippet imagewill be populated instead of and without corresponding extracted databeing populated when the document processing device and/or system isunable to extract the corresponding data above an predeterminedconfidence level. That is, according to some embodiments, if a devicecannot extract a serial number, the device will populate a correspondingserial number field with a snippet image of the serial number instead ofthe extracted serial number itself. According to some embodiments, asnippet image will be populated instead of and without correspondingextracted data being populated as a system default. That is, accordingto some embodiments, the report can populated with snippet images onlyand without information extracted from image data associated withcurrency bills.

According to some embodiments, the device and/or system is configured topopulate a portion of the extracted data and a corresponding snippetimage For example, if a device can extract 10 of the 11 serial numbercharacters, the device can be configured to populate the extracted 10characters of the serial number plus a wildcard character and acorresponding serial number snippet image into the form.

It is contemplated that in certain embodiments, the data in the varioussections or fields of the report 2300 may be linked or networked with adatabase that includes corresponding extracted currency bill informationor a customer information database.

The report illustrated in FIG. 23A-B is similar to U.S. Secret ServiceForm SSF1604, Counterfeit Note Report, that U.S. financial institutionsare required to submit to the U.S. Secret Service for every counterfeitnote that a financial institution receives. Similar counterfeit notereports can be prepared for suspect foreign currency bills. In analternate embodiment, other currency-related government reports can beautomatically generated and populated such as U.S. Department ofTreasury Form 104, Currency Transaction Report. The Currency TransactionReport may be modified to include and the document processing deviceand/or system can be configured to populate, for example, informationrelated to the individual currency bills associated the currencytransaction such as serial numbers, secondary currency billcharacteristic information (e.g., Federal Reserve letter/number, series,plate numbers), and/or images (e.g., full or partial) of the currencybills. Additional details of automatic report generation for currencybill processing device and systems are described in U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2004/0153408 A1, entitled “FinancialDocument Processing System,” which is hereby incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety.

As described above, it is contemplated that in certain embodiments, thedocument processing device and/or system can be configured to populateone or more snippet images of a suspect currency bill in correspondingfields in a report where OCR algorithms for extracting information fromthe image data associated with the currency bill are unsuccessful. Ifthe OCR algorithm is unsuccessful in extracting desired information fromthe bill, the document processing device and/or system can be configuredto populate the snippet image in a field in the automatically generatedreport. According to some embodiments, the document processing deviceand/or system can be configured to display the snippet image on adisplay screen so that an operator of the document processing deviceand/or system may manually input the non-extractable information in theappropriate field of the report. As one non-limiting example, a suspectcurrency bill may have been printed using an incorrect font for the faceplate number resulting in the extraction algorithm being unsuccessful inextracting the bill face plate number. A snippet of the bill image(e.g., a portion of the image of the bill) that includes the face platenumber could then be placed or populated into the record or report atthe location that the extracted face plate number is normally placed bythe device and/or system.

In certain embodiments, the document processing system may have acommunication port for connecting to a network and transmitting inreal-time some or all of the information in report 2300, includingimages of currency bills, to a receiving node at the U.S. SecretService, other government agency or law enforcement group, or otherentity tracking counterfeit currency bills. In some embodiments, theinformation in report 2300 is transmitted over the network atpredetermined time intervals (e.g., every hour, daily, once a week). Incertain embodiments, the document processing system may electronicallytransmit the report 2300 or the information contained in report 2300(e.g., records or data files) to a central database that containsinformation for other counterfeit currency bills. It is furthercontemplated that in certain embodiments the document processing systemmay include or can be communicatively connected to a printing device.For example, the document processing system may generate a reportsimilar to report 2300 or a data file containing a plurality of recordsor reports. The data file can be stored locally within the documentprocessing system or within a local area network associated with thedocument processing system. As the document processing system processesa stack of currency bills and the associated imaging components imagethe currency bills, selected data are subsequently extracted from theimage data. Upon detection or determination that a bill is suspect(e.g., counterfeit), the report 2300 may be generated by the documentprocessing system. Once the report 2300 is created with data populatingthe sections or fields of report 2300, the report 2300 can automaticallybe printed out in hard copy form or report 2300 can be stored in a queuefor later printing, such as at the end of the day or the end of theweek, and transmittal (e.g., physical transfer) to the U.S. SecretService or other law enforcement agency. In certain embodiments,numerous copies of report 2300 can be generated and/or consolidated fortransmittal together at a predetermined time. In certain embodiments,the document processing system can be operated in business environmentsother than a financial institution, such as a store or merchant. It iscontemplated that the document processing system can operate within thenetworks or computing environments that may be expected with stores ormerchants such as franchises, department stores, or smallerbrick-and-mortar operations.

Referring back to FIG. 3C, it may be desirable in certain embodiments tohave a quick and efficient method for handling an identified suspectcurrency bill. In the illustration provided in FIG. 3C, the currencybill may be determined to be suspect based on the various counterfeitdetection techniques described in the current section and in sectionselsewhere in the present disclosure. A user interface may display arecord 300 to a document processing system operator. In certainembodiments, the document processing system may also off-sort or stopand present the suspect currency bill for physical inspection by theoperator. After the operator has determined that the currency bill issuspect (e.g., based on physical inspection, review of a full or partialimage 370, or comparison of the serial number and cross-referenceinformation) the operator may select a charge back option 396 (seerelated discussions in sections elsewhere in the present disclosure foradditional details), which may initiate one or several operations. Forexample, the charge back option may result in a customer account beingcharged back the value of the currency bill in the case where thecustomer account already received credit for the deposit of the currencybill. Such a procedure requires that the customer account information befirst associated with the currency bill image. The chargeback option 396may also trigger the preparation of a counterfeit note report or otherreports, as discussed, for example, in this section and elsewhere.Examples of other types of reports may include a statement to thecustomer explaining the chargeback can also be initiated upon anoperator selecting the chargeback option 396. Alternatively, a documentprocessing system may automatically generate a report for any identifiedsuspect currency bills, including a report summarizing all identifiedsuspects notes.

It is contemplated that in certain embodiments, a second report may bepopulated and automatically generated by the document processing systemfor an identified counterfeit currency note. This second report can bein addition to, for example, the exemplary report illustrated in FIGS.23A-B. The second report can be created or generated in an electronicform that may be saved in a memory and/or displayed on a display. Incertain embodiments, the second report may be printed on a printingdevice associated with the document processing system. As discussedabove, preparation of the second report can be a desirable featurebecause in addition to preparing a government-required report, such as,for example, Secret Service Form 1604 (or modified versions thereof), afinancial institution may also want to generate a chargeback reportand/or notification to the customer that deposited the suspect note. Thecharge-back report can include information, such as the date the notewas deposited, the account number to be charged back, tellerinformation, other transaction information, and/or at least a partialimage of the note. The charge-back report can be printed out and sent tothe customer or the charge-back report can be an electronic report thatis sent to the financial institution customer by email or other knownelectronic methods for communications with customers. The charge-backreport can be generated at a time different from the generation of thecounterfeit note report or it can be generated substantiallycontemporaneously with the generation of the counterfeit note report.The charge-back report and counterfeit note report can be transmittedelectronically as illustrated, for example, in FIG. 24 and/or asdiscussed in sections elsewhere in the present disclosure.

In certain embodiments, it is contemplated that some or all of theinformation in report 2300 can be collected for genuine currency bills.For example, a financial institution or law enforcement agency may wantto track the movements of currency dispensed or received in largedeposits or withdrawals. As another example, financial institutionsand/or law enforcement agencies may also want to track money associatedwith criminal activity such as stolen money (e.g., money a teller gave abank robber, a bundle of $100 bills with pre-recorded serial numbers),laundered money, drug money (e.g., bills where serial number and/orother identifying information is pre-recorded prior to or after anillicit drug transaction), or ransom money. It is further contemplatedthat it may be desirable to track currency bills by denomination andserial number for certain financial institution customers includingbusinesses and individuals (e.g., inflow and outflow of currency billsfrom a certain account). According to some embodiments, it may bedesirable for financial institutions or law enforcement agencies totrack serial numbers and/or other characteristics of currency bills suchas the Federal Reserve Bank designation. As another non-limitingexample, in exercising subpoenas, law enforcement may desire to trackthe circulation of select currency bills by tracking the denominationand serial number of currency bills issued to select customer(s) of adesignated financial institution. It is contemplated that in someembodiments the document processing system allows tracking of genuinecurrency bills by initially imaging the currency bill at either theintake or shortly thereafter (e.g., a deposit) or just prior to awithdrawal and storing in a database the image, transaction identifyinginformation, and character information extracted from the currency bill.It is also contemplated that in some embodiments serial numberinformation and transaction identifying information may be stored in adata base. In certain embodiments various unique characteristicsassociated with a currency bill may be stored in a database. As thecurrency bills are later circulated and processed by other documentprocessing systems, the later images and/or related extractedinformation and transaction identifying information can also be storedin a database and appended with data stored in the database containingthe prior circulation and/or transaction information involving the samecurrency bill.

It is contemplated that in certain embodiments, a document processingsystem may also be able to extract a “Rapid Print” number that isprinted onto an identified counterfeit currency bill. “Rapid Print”numbers are printed by the U.S. Secret Service onto counterfeit billsand include a field to help identify where the counterfeit note wasreceived, the year in which the “Rapid Print” number was printed ontothe counterfeit note, and a unique identifying number for the note. Itis further contemplated that in certain embodiments, once a currencybill is determined to be counterfeit or suspect, the document processingsystem can print a “Rapid Print” number on the actual counterfeit bill.In certain embodiments, it may also be desirable to further associatethe “Rapid Print” number printed on a counterfeit bill with anelectronic image of the suspect currency bill. For example, the documentprocessing system may electronically tag or associate a “Rapid Print”number with an image of a suspect currency bill and substantiallyconcurrently physically print the same “Rapid Print” number on theactual suspect currency bill as the device is processing a stack ofcurrency bills. In some embodiments, a suspect currency bill mayinitially be run through the document processing system, and then, dataassociated with the suspect currency bill may be entered and associatedwith the bill, such as transaction information associated with thereceipt of the bill including the place the bill was received and thedate/time of the receipt. Other transaction related information may bereceived, as well, and furthermore, the transaction-related informationmay already be stored in a memory for recall during the processing ofthe suspect currency bill in the document processing system. Thetransaction-related information may also be electronically tagged orassociated with the image of the suspect currency bill. In certainembodiments, an electronic signal may be transmitted from or within thedocument processing system to a printer that prints the “Rapid Print”number onto the counterfeit currency bill. The “Rapid Print” number maybe assigned via data entry to a touch-panel display or a keyboardcommunicatively connected with the document processing device or withinthe document processing system (e.g., connected remotely).

It is contemplated that in certain embodiments, the document processingsystem (e.g., 100, 101′) can operate within a counterfeit reconciliationsystem or as a standalone system for reconciliation of currency bills.The counterfeit reconciliation system can include high-resolutionimaging (e.g., 400 DPI×200 DPI, 300 DPI×300 DPI, 400 DPI×400 DPI) of thecurrency bills to obtain image data that is reproducible as a visuallyreadable image. High-resolution imaging allows for the extraction ofvarious characteristics of the currency bills from the image dataincluding not only unique identifying characteristics such as the serialnumber, but also secondary bill characteristics or additional characterinformation such as the check letter and quadrant number, FederalReserve letter/number, the series, the check letter and face platenumber, the back plate number, the Secretary of the Treasury signature,the Treasurer signature, or other secondary currency billcharacteristics. High-resolution imaging may be desirable of both thefront and back of the currency bills.

The counterfeit reconciliation system can be particularly useful in acash vault, such as, at a private or Federal Reserve bank and/or a vaultassociated with U.S. Secret Service operations. In an exemplaryembodiment, one or more document processing systems, such as the devicesillustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2A-2C, are used to process currency billswithin the cash vault. According to some embodiments, the device and/orsystem is configured to extract the serial numbers and/or secondarycharacteristics of the currency bills from image data and to store theextracted information in a database. According to some embodiments, thedevice and/or system associates the extracted currency bill informationwith customer information, a customer account, or other currency-handler(e.g., teller, custodian) identifying information. According to someembodiments, the device and/or system is configured to associate andstore currency bill images, or portions thereof, with the extracted billinformation and/or handler identifying information.

It is contemplated that in certain embodiments currency bills may beprocessed using relatively lower resolution (e.g., 200 DPI×100 DPI, 200DPI×200 DPI, 150 DPI×150 DPI) images. For U.S. currency bills, suchlower resolutions are typically satisfactory for extracting the serialnumber from the currency bill using optical character recognitionmethods. The currency bill serial numbers can then be stored in adatabase along with information identifying the source of the currencybill (e.g., customer, custodian). In certain embodiments, the currencybill image or a portion thereof may be stored or associated with theserial number and bill source identification information. After a batchor stack of currency bills is processed, the currency bills may then beplaced in a tray and moved to a separate currency processing device. Forexample, it may be desirable to sort the currency bills by denominationand strap the bills using a device such as the JetScan™ MPS line ofmulti-pocket currency sorters manufactured by Cummins-Allison Corp. ofMt. Prospect, Illinois. In other embodiments, a batch or stack ofcurrency bills may be processed after the currency bills are firstsorted. For example, currency bills may first be sorted usingmulti-pocket currency sorter such as the JetScan™ MPS line of products.The multi-pocket currency sorter can include a counterfeit detectionsystem for authenticating the currency bills where suspect orcounterfeit bills are off-sorted to a separate output receptacle of themulti-pocket sorter. After the counterfeit currency bills areidentified, those bills may then be placed in a device that isconfigured to image the documents at relatively higher resolutions(e.g., 400 DPI×200 DPI, 300 DPI×300 DPI, 400 DPI×400 DPI). The documentprocessing system can then extract primary (e.g., serial number,denomination) and secondary (e.g., check letter and quadrant number,Federal Reserve letter/number, series, check letter and face platenumber, back plate number) characteristic information from the imagedata obtained for each bill as described in the current section and insections elsewhere herein. The document processing system then takes theextracted information for the counterfeit note and populates thatinformation into selected fields in an electronic report in a processsimilar to that discussed for FIGS. 23A-B and elsewhere herein.Furthermore, the document processing system may communicate with, forexample, an internal or external server that contains a database linkingthe serial number for the counterfeit note with a customer account orcertain customer information (e.g., name, address). The customerinformation is then downloaded and also populated into other selectedfield of the electronic report. The electronic report may then beexported via a communication port to the Secret Service or other federalagency with interests in tracking counterfeit currency.

It is contemplated that in certain embodiments, the federal agencytracking counterfeit notes (e.g., U.S. Secret Service) may assign largerbanks or armored carriers a batch number associated with the large bankor carrier and allow these entities to report counterfeit notes in abatch reporting process, such as, for example, via the U.S. SecretService U.S. Dollar website available at www.usdollars.usss.gov. Itwould be desirable for such a batch reporting process to be automated,particularly since larger banks and armored carriers are likely toprocess a significant number of counterfeit notes. As the bank orcarrier processes the counterfeit notes, it may mark a batch number onthe counterfeit note along with a unique identifying number or code. Forexample, across each currency note identified as counterfeit the bankmay print a batch number or code associated with the bank, such as“12345” or “A1234”. The bank may also assign its own unique number orcode to the counterfeit currency note at a different location on thebill or immediately after the batch number, such as “12345-1” or“A1234-1” or “12345-A”, where right-hand character (e.g., number “1” orletter “A”) is the bank's unique identifier for the note in the batch.Subsequent counterfeit currency notes within the same batch may then be,for example, consecutively or sequentially numbered or characterizedwith the number “2” or letter “B”. In certain embodiments, it iscontemplated that the batch number and associated unique batchidentifier is affixed to the counterfeit currency notes along agenerally white, outside edge of the currency note. It is particularlydesirable that the number is printed in an area other than the typicallyprinted portions of currency notes. As the large bank or armored carrierthen processes the counterfeit notes using a document processing system,such as those described elsewhere herein, selected fields are extractedfrom the image data of the counterfeit currency notes and thatinformation is used to populate a counterfeit note batch report thatlists the extracted data along with related handler information in aformat similar to Table 1 below:

TABLE 1 FROM: Any Bank USA 129 Seventh St, Lincoln, CA (987) 765-4321Batch #12345 - Jun. 30, 2009 CHECK FEDERAL LETTER RESERVE AND FACE NOTELETTER/ SERIAL QUADRANT PLATE BACK BANK NO. DENOMINATION NUMBER LETTERNUMBER NUMBER PLATE SERIES CUSTOMER 1 $10  A, 1 GA123456789 D, 4 12 9 G,2004 In-n-Out 123 Main St Centralia, CA 2 $100 C, 3 AC987654321 F, 6 115 A, 1996 Bob's Nursery 456 First St Lincoln, CA

As shown in Table 1, each counterfeit note is listed in the batch reportwith each of the fields in the table being populated as or after thecounterfeit currency notes are processed in the document processingdevice. The batch report may be created and stored as an electronicreport. It is also contemplated that the electronic report may betransmitted over a network, or printed out, for submittal to agovernment agency such as the U.S. Secret Service. In the example ofTable 1, the first column includes the note number that can be printedon the bill after the batch number or elsewhere. It is also contemplatedthat the document processing system may print the batch number and notenumber on each counterfeit currency note during the processing stagethat generates the batch report. The second column may include the notedenomination. The third column may include the Federal Reserve letterand/or number. The fourth column may include the counterfeit note serialnumber. The fifth column may include check letter and quadrant number.The sixth and seventh columns may include face plate and back platenumbers. The eight column may include the series letter and/or year forthe currency note. The ninth column may include customer information, ifit is known to the bank. For example, Table 1 identifies that Note No. 1is associated with In-n-Out located in Centralia, California along withthe listed customer address. The customer information may be populatedinto the batch report by cross-referencing the serial number of thecounterfeit currency note with a particular transaction when the notewas received by the bank, and thus, tie the counterfeit note to aparticular bank customer and account associated with the transaction.Other formats for the batch report are contemplated that may includedifferent column headers and extracted information. More or fewercolumns may be included in the batch report as required by the financialinstitution or the government agency requiring the report (e.g., U.S.Secret Service). It is contemplated that the batch report may includeanywhere from two counterfeit currency notes to as many as allowed bythe relevant government agency (e.g., up to fifty counterfeit currencynotes). With the batch number and note number being included in thebatch report, the government agency (e.g., U.S. Secret Service) wouldhave available to it the information needed to follow up on the reportednotes once the counterfeit notes are received from the currency handler(e.g., bank, carrier).

It is also contemplated that in certain embodiments, the batch reportmay include an image or partial image of the front and/or back of thecounterfeit currency note. The image may be included in a separatecolumn in the batch report or may be accessible via a link in thereport. As discussed elsewhere, an exemplary document processing systemmay first process each of the counterfeit currency notes and thenautomatically populate a record with all the information needed tocreate the batch report. For example, once a batch number is assignedfor an institution, all the counterfeit notes can be processed in thedocument processing systems discussed herein and any needed reports canbe automatically generated with the extracted information associatedwith the notes populating fields of a report, in a manner similar to theexample of Table 1. It is contemplated that any counterfeit notespecific identifiers (e.g., Note No. 1, Note No. 2, Note A, Note B) canbe either printed on the note before processing in the documentprocessing system or the identifier can be printed directly on the noteduring the processing operation. It is contemplated that in certainembodiments, the batch number and identifier, if placed on thecounterfeit note before processing, are also extracted from the imagedata of the counterfeit currency note and populated into the record forthe report.

Once the counterfeit currency notes are processed and the batch reportis generated an electronic version of the report may be exported to athird party, such as the U.S. Secret Service or an entity associatedwith the U.S. Secret Service that maintains a database of counterfeitbill information (e.g., the USDollars Note Search Site atwww.usdollars.usss.gov) Physical copies of the reports and counterfeitcurrency notes may be sent, as well.

Turning now to FIG. 24, a block diagram of a document processing system2401 configured to communicate over a network is described according tosome embodiments of the present disclosure. The system includes adocument processing node 2410, a network 2420, and a remote reportingnode 2450, such as a law enforcement agency server, third party server,or other remote network communications system. Additional exemplaryembodiments of document processing systems, document processing devices,and document processing systems communicating over a network aredescribed elsewhere herein.

The document processing node 2410 includes a document processing device2412. According to some embodiments, the document processing system 2410includes a first computer 2416 communicatively connected to the documentprocessing device 2412, such as by through a wired connection (e.g.,electrical, optic, other direct connection) or a wireless connection.According to some embodiments, the first computer 2416 can be a serverconfigured to be communicatively connected with a plurality of documentprocessing devices 2412 (e.g., ten, twenty, thirty). According to someembodiments, the document processing device 2412 and the first computer2416 share a single housing.

The remote reporting node 2450 may include a second computer 2452 and aremote storage system 2456. The second computer 2452 may becommunicatively connected to the remote storage system 2456, such as bythrough a wired connection (e.g., electrical, optic, other directconnection) or a wireless connection. According to some embodiments, thesecond computer 2452 can be a server. In some embodiments, the secondcomputer 2452 and the remote storage system 2456 share a single housing.According to some embodiments, the remote reporting node 2450 may be aserver. It is contemplated that in certain embodiments, the remotereporting node 2450 may also include or have associated therewith asecond document processing device 2462. It is contemplated that incertain scenarios, a law enforcement agency or other entity may servicethe remote reporting node 2450. The remote reporting node 2450 wouldthen receive data 2422 over the network 2420 from the documentprocessing node 2410. It is contemplated that in certain embodiments theentity servicing the remote reporting node 2450 (e.g., U.S. SecretService) may also have the need to process physical documents in itspossession (e.g., a law enforcement agency may desire to rapidly processcurrency bills associated with drug bust or other criminal-relatedactivity). Thus, processing of physical document at the remote reportingnode 2450 may also be completed by placing a second physical stack ofcurrency bills into an input receptacle 2464 of the second documentprocessing device 2462 so that the notes can be processed according tothe embodiments described herein directly within the remote processingnode. The law enforcement entity may desire to process the currencybills by recording images and extracting selected bill information asquickly and accurately as possible for likely later use as evidence(e.g., currency bill image, serial number, and other identifyingcharacteristics) in criminal proceedings. Alternatively, an entity suchas the U.S. Secret Service may maintain a central repository or serverthat acts as the remote reporting node 2450 and have each of itsindividual satellite offices act as one document processing node 2410out of multiple document processing nodes connected to the remotereporting node 2450.

It is contemplated that in certain embodiments, a document processingentity, such as a financial institution or law enforcement entity, mayprocess currency bills as the servicer of the document processing node2410 and may later send the processed suspect currency bills, orcurrency bills that are otherwise of interest, to either a lawenforcement entity or to a central repository (e.g., entities operatinga remote reporting node). Thus, even when financial institutions sendthe images and associated data of suspect documents in advance over thedata network 2420, the financial institutions may still send thephysical suspect currency to the law enforcement agency (e.g., U.S.Secret Service). Upon receiving the suspect currency bills, the lawenforcement agency may decide they want to rerun the currency billsreceived through their own document processing device (e.g., seconddocument processing device 2462). Such situation may occur where the lawenforcement agency intends to further process the suspect currency bill(e.g., Rapid Print) once the suspect currency bill is received. It isfurther contemplated that it may be desirable to the operator of theremote reporting node 2450 to process the received physical suspectcurrency bills (e.g., counterfeit currency bills, target genuinecurrency bills, currency bills of interest) to confirm that a physicalcurrency bill has been received for every record or data file receivedover the network. Therefore, the unique identifying informationextracted from each physical currency bill received and processed by thesecond document processing device may be compared with the records ordata files stored in the remote system 2456 so that each receivedcurrency bill can be accounted for.

While there are numerous possible combinations and positions for thevarious systems, devices, and computers of the document processingsystem, FIG. 24 illustrates one non-limiting example suitable fordescribing the imaging, extraction, and processing of documents at onelocation and transmitting the imaged and extracted information over anetwork to a second location. Processing of documents at the documentprocessing node can generate a plurality of data files or records 2422that may include image data, data extracted from images, and transactionidentification information. According to some embodiments, the datafiles or records 2422 contain a visually readable image of one or bothsides of a currency bill or other documents. According to someembodiments, the data files or records 2422 include a visually readableimage of both sides of a document, identifying information (e.g.,currency bill serial number, denomination, other extracted information)and transactional information (e.g., bank account number, depositorcontact information). According to other embodiments, the data records2422 only include identifying information and transaction informationwithout any images. According to some embodiments, a partial image ofthe currency bill e.g. serial number snippet is included in the datafile or record 2422.

According to some embodiments, in response to generating the datarecords 2422, an operator at node 2410 or 2450 can initiate the electrictransmission of the generated data files 2422 over the network 2420 tothe remote reporting node 2450. According to some embodiments, thedocument processing device 2412 is configured to electrically transmitthe generated data files 2422 over the network 2420 to the remotereporting node 2450. In some of these embodiments, the second computer2452 can be configured to receive the data files 2422 either through awired (e.g., electrical, optic, other direct connection) or wirelessconnection, the remote storage system 2456, and/or another networksystem. Alternatively, in response to generating the data files 2422,the document processing node 2410 automatically transmits the data files2422 over the network 2420 to the remote reporting node 2450 as anelectronic transmission without further input from document processingnode 2410.

According to some embodiments, the remote storage system 2456 includes adatabase 2454 that maintains and/or stores information or reportsrelated to counterfeit currency bills. The database 2454 can alsoinclude information or reports related to other suspect currency billsor genuine currency bills (e.g., laundered money, drug-bust money,stolen money, ransom money, money associated with other instances ofcriminal activity where images, serial numbers, and/or additionalcharacteristics are recorded for currency bills). The database 2454 canbe located within the remote storage system 2456, within the remotereporting node 2450, or external to one or both. According to someembodiments, the database 2454 is stored on a plurality of differentmemory devices, which can be physically located in a plurality ofdifferent locations (e.g., different computers with the same ordifferent law enforcement agency or third parties). According to someembodiments, the database 2454 has one or more memory back-ups locatedin a plurality of locations (e.g., online server back-up).

In certain embodiments, a stack of currency bills is received in aninput receptacle 2414, 2464 of a document processing device 2412, 2462.The stack of currency bills may be associated with a unique depositidentifier that associates the currency bills with a particulartransaction, account, and/or customer. Within the document processingdevice, a visually readable image of one or more portions of at leastone side of the currency bills in the stack can be obtained.Furthermore, a serial number and additional predetermined characterfields (e.g., plate numbers, series information) can be extracted fromthe images of currency bills. Serial number information andcorresponding additional character information may be received into amemory either directly or remotely associated with the documentprocessing system. The serial number and corresponding additionalcharacter information can be associated with currency bills of interest,such as genuine currency bills or counterfeit currency bills. Aprocessor in the document processing device 2412, 2462 or a computer2416, 2452 can then compare the extracted serial number andcorresponding predetermined character field information with the serialnumber information and corresponding additional character informationreceived from the memory. A record for a currency bill can then beflagged if there are any matches between the data extracted from thecurrency bill image (e.g., serial number and/or additional characterfields) and the currency bill data in the memory.

In certain embodiments, an electronic data file may be received over anetwork that is associated with a document processing device 2462. Theelectronic data file may include image data that is reproducible asvisually readable images that correspond to a first group of currencybills processed on a another document processing device 2412. The datafile can include a currency bill image with the extracted currency billserial number and other identifying character information tagged to thecurrency bill image. A stack of a second group of currency bills may bereceived in an input receptacle 2464 associated with the documentprocessing device 2462. The second group of currency bills may then betransported from the input receptacle, past an image scanner(s), andinto an output receptacle, all associated with the document processingdevice 2462. The second group of currency bills are imaged via the imagescanner to produce image data reproducible as visually readable imagesof each of the second group of currency bills. Furthermore, a currencybill serial number and other identifying character information may beextracted from the images of each of the second group of currency bills.The serial number and other identifying information from the extractedsecond group of currency bills may then be compared with the receivedelectronic data file to determine if the extracted information matchesthe information in the electronic data file. In some embodiments, adetermination may be made of the authenticity of each of the secondgroup of currency bills using the extracted currency bill serial numberand comparing the extracted serial number and the extracted additionalidentifying character information with serial numbers and correspondingadditional identifying character information stored in a memory.

According to some embodiments, the document processing node 2410 mayreceive counterfeit currency bill serial number and other currency billinformation from database 2454 or remote reporting node 2450. It is alsocontemplated that document processing node 2410 may receive serialnumber information and additional identifying character information forgenuine currency bill documents from database 2454 or reporting node2450.

Referring now to FIG. 25, a flow chart 2500 for an embodiment of thepresent disclosure is presented. In step 2510, a stack of currency billsor notes is received. The notes have information uniquely identifyingthe documents, such as a serial number or a serial number in combinationwith additional identifying character information. The additionalidentifying character information may or may not be unique to aparticular note but may be unique to a certain group of notes orcurrency bills (e.g., back plate number, series, Federal ReserveLetter/Number). The received notes are then imaged in step 2520 toproduce data reproducible as visually readable images of each note. Atstep 2530, the serial number is extracted from each note along withadditional character information such as a type of note, a FederalReserve letter/number, a series, a check letter and quadrant number, acheck letter and face plate number, a back plate number, or combinationsthereof. In step 2540, the received notes are denominated. Denominationof the notes can be completed using the images of the notes and/ortechniques described elsewhere herein. In step 2550, the notes are thenauthenticated using the extracted serial number and/or otherinformation. Authentication may further be completed using thetechniques described for FIG. 26, and in particular steps 2650 and 2660.If a note is determined to be suspect in step 2560, a report isautomatically generated in step 2580. Otherwise the process ends 2570 orproceeds to another routine. The automatic generation of the report instep 2580 includes populating fields of the report with informationextracted and/or determined from the suspect note along with informationthat may be associated with a customer who deposited the currency billwith a financial institution. The population of fields may includetransmitting over a network the information extracted and/or determinedfrom the suspect note to a remote location. At step 2590, adetermination is made whether additional suspect notes were identifiedin the authentication step 2550. If additional suspect notes wereidentified, additional reports are populated for any additional suspectnotes.

Flagging Based on Multiple Extracted Bill Characteristics

Verifying the genuineness of currency bills by cross-referencinginformation extracted and/or determined from a currency bill, withinformation from currency bills known to be genuine, can be a beneficialway to check for suspect bills. For example, counterfeiters typicallywill change unique identifying characteristics of a counterfeit billsuch as the serial number. However, counterfeiters often find itdifficult to change other information such as signatories, seriesinformation, check letter and quadrant number, check letter and faceplate number, or back plate number, particularly on U.S. currency bills,because the printed characters that include the non-serial numbercharacteristics are printed much smaller and of different styles thanthe serial number. Therefore, except for a serial number, other numericand/or alphanumeric characters are typically not changed during thepreparation of counterfeit bills. Thus, in addition to extracting serialnumbers from currency bill images, the extraction and processing ofnon-serial number character information from currency bill images (e.g.,from image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of acurrency bill) can also be beneficial to identify and track counterfeitcurrency bills. Extracted non-serial number information iscross-referenced with the extracted currency bill serial number andcompared with known serial number and known correspondingcross-reference information associated with genuine notes. It is alsocontemplated that cross-referencing of information extracted from acurrency bill with information from currency bills known to becounterfeit can also be a beneficial way to check for suspect bills.Additional information on identifying and tracking suspect currencybills can be found, for example, in U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/638,231, entitled “Currency Bill Tracking System” and U.S. Pat. No.7,187,795, entitled “Document Processing System Using Full ImageScanning,” which are both hereby incorporated by reference herein intheir entireties.

It is further contemplated that from time to time a financialinstitution or law enforcement agency, such as, for example, the U.S.Secret Service, may want to perform searches of a database for currencybills known or suspected to be associated with criminal activity. Incertain embodiments, a list of serial numbers associated with a certaintransaction or activity may be pre-loaded or stored into a database usedto track currency bills and the database may be later accessed by, or bea part of, a document processing system. During subsequent documentprocessing operations of currency bills that match a pre-loaded serialnumber and/or other information, a record including extracted and/ordetermined information that matches one of the pre-loaded serial numbersand/or other information can be flagged or otherwise updated to includeadditional information regarding the circulation patterns of thecurrency bill. It is contemplated that in certain embodiments, variousdatabases may be established that are associated with (e.g., networkedto) the document processing system. The databases can include acounterfeit database, a stolen money database, a money-launderingdatabase, etc. It is further contemplated that associated transactioninformation may be stored with the currency bill image data inrespective records and/or tagged thereto. The transaction informationcan allow a specific currency bill to be tracked to a specific financialinstitution or store customer. Again, it should be noted that thedocument processing systems described herein can be used for U.S.currency, as well as, foreign currency.

In certain embodiments it may be desirable for data, such as theinformation contained in the records described in the Documents Recordsand Data Files Section and in sections elsewhere in the presentdisclosure, from a predetermined number of genuine currency bills to bepreloaded or stored as records on a database associated with a documentprocessing device. The records may include such information as thecurrency bill serial number and additional characteristics such as thedenomination, the series of the note, Federal Reserve letter/number,back plate number, etc. As the currency bill is then circulated thecurrency bill may be processed at a later time in a document processingsystem having access to the information originally stored on thedatabase. If there is a serial number match, the record associated withthe currency bill may be flagged. Furthermore, in certain embodimentscomparisons in addition to the serial number comparison may be made. Forexample, after serial number data extracted from a processed currencybill is matched with a record in the database, additional extractedcharacter information obtained from an image of the currency bill orotherwise may be further matched or compared with the information in thedatabase. If the serial number and the additional information, such as,for example, the additional extracted character information match, thenlaw enforcement can be fairly certain that the circulated currency billof interest is in fact the same currency bill associated with the recordfrom the predetermined number of genuine currency bill records preloadedonto the database. If the serial number and the additional information,such as, for example, additional extracted character information doesnot match, then there is a strong likelihood that the circulatedcurrency bill is a counterfeit currency bill and not the currency billfor which data was preloaded into the database. The circulated suspectcurrency bill can then be flagged or otherwise highlighted as a currencybill of interest that warrants further tracking or investigation. In theabove example of the serial number and additional information notmatching, it may be desirable to add the image of the bill and extractedand/or determined information to a database, such as one set up to tracksuspect currency bills.

Referring back to FIG. 3A, it is contemplated that in certainembodiments it may be desirable to extract signatory information 312such as a Treasurer's signature and a signature of the Secretary ofTreasury. Likewise, in some embodiments, dollar amount information 313a, 313 b, series information 314, and Federal Reserve Bank designatorssuch as the number 317 a and letter 317 b, and plate number 321 on thebackside of the currency bill, may be extracted. All of the extracteddata may be used for cross-referencing the extracted serial number withthe additional identifying character information for the currency billif the currency bill is a suspect bill. For example, the serial numberof the currency bill may be related to the series. If the series for acurrency bill does not match the known series within the serial numberrange (e.g., no match), then the bill is a suspect bill. Also, forcertain series of U.S. currency bills, the Federal Reserve Bank number317 a may be in different locations on the currency bill. For example,in some series, the letter portion 317 b is in a seal. In other series,the number portion 317 a is immediately next to the letter portion 317b, with neither being in the seal. The signatory information 312, dollaramount information 313 a, 313 b, series information 314, check letterand quadrant number 315, check letter and face plate number 316, FederalReserve letter/number 317 a, 317 b, and back plate number 321 may all beextracted and inserted into the appropriate fields 312′, 313′, 314′,315′, 316′, 317′, 321′, respectively, in the record and/or data file.According to some embodiments, software operated on the documentprocessing system, such as system 100, can be updated to handle changesin any fields that change over time. Additional information oncounterfeit detection systems and methods can be found, for example, inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/638,231, entitled “Currency BillTracking System” and U.S. Pat. No. 7,187,795, entitled “DocumentProcessing System Using Full Image Scanning,” which have already beenincorporated by reference in their entireties.

According to some embodiments, it is contemplated that other fields on acurrency bill may contain data useful for processing a bill andidentifying suspect characteristics, such as data relating to theissuing bank or the country of origin (if multiple country currenciesare accepted), and others. It is also contemplated that foreign currencymay have other useful information on the bill, such as, other securitymeasures which it may be useful to extract from the image of the bill orotherwise be determined. One example would be the size of the currencydocument. In many foreign countries, the size of the currency billvaries with denomination. As a preliminary measure, the size of thecurrency bill may be measured to ensure that the bill is the appropriatesize.

It is contemplated that in some embodiments, the locations of certainidentifying information for currency bills varies and can also beanalyzed for identifying suspect currency bills. For example, in laterU.S. currency series, a picture may be larger and/or off-center than inearlier series notes. Also, some of the identifying characterinformation may be located in a different positions for different seriesbills and bills of different denominations.

Referring to FIG. 22, an identifying information Wizard 2200 is shown.According to some embodiments, the Wizard 2200 can be used to aid anoperator in identifying/locating identifying information on a specificcurrency bill being processed in a document processing device and/or ona sample currency bill having information located in correspondinglocations. That is, according to some embodiments, the images 2210 and2215 of the currency bill can be images of a bill that is processed bythe document processing device and according to other embodiments, theimages 2210 and 2215 are images of a sample currency bill.

According to some embodiments, the Wizard walks an operator through thevarious identifying information fields, one at a time, pointing theoperator to a specific location on the images where identifyinginformation is located or should be located and asks the operator readthe identifying information from the image(s) and to type theidentifying information into a corresponding one of the fields 2240′,2250′, 2260′, 2262′, 2264′, 2266′, and 2268′. According to someembodiments, the Wizard highlights a particular area of one or both ofthe images 2210, 2215 containing identifying information using one ormore different types of shapes and/or colors.

For example, to aid the operator in filling in the denomination field2240′, the Wizard can put a blue circle (not shown) around the number 50on the first image 2210 and prompt the operator to enter the number inthe blue circle into the denomination field 2240′. For another example,to aid the operator in filling in the check letter and quadrant numberfield 2264′, the Wizard can put a green triangle (not shown) around the“D1” on the upper left side of the first image 2210 adjacent the serialnumber and prompt the operator to enter the letter and number in thegreen triangle into the check letter and quadrant number field 2264′.For yet another example, to aid the operator in filling in the backplate number field 2268′, the Wizard can put a red square (not shown)around the number 9 on the right side of the second image 2215 andprompt the operator to enter the number in the red square into the backplate field 2268′.

A similar procedure is contemplated for aiding the operator in locatingand entering the rest of the identifying information into the Wizardfields. According to some embodiments, the various pieces of identifyinginformation are highlighted with different shapes of the same color.According to some embodiments, the various pieces of identifyinginformation are highlighted with the same or similar shapes of alldifferent colors.

According to some embodiments, one or more of the fields areautomatically populated with values from extracted data associated withthe currency bill being processed. In such embodiments, the Wizard walksthe operator through the missing fields and asks the operator to confirmthat the automatically populated fields are correct by looking at thefirst and/or second images 2210, 2215 of the currency bill and/or bylooking at the physical bill. According to some embodiments, in responseto the operator completing the Wizard, a record including theinformation entered into and visible in the Wizard 2200 is created in asimilar fashion as described in connection with FIG. 3A and as describedin other sections elsewhere herein.

It is contemplated that in certain embodiments a document processingdevice and/or system for processing currency bills, such as the devicesand/or systems described herein (e.g., devices 101, 101′, 101 a,b, 400and system 100), can process currency bills using the Wizard 2200.According to some embodiments, one or both of images 2210, 2215 can beobtained using one or more image scanners such as the image scanners 140a and/or 140 b described in connection with FIG. 1. The images 2210,2215 may also include various combinations of exemplary informationextracted and/or determined from the currency bill, such as denomination2240 a, 2240 b (e.g., $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, C =500, £100,¥100); serial number 2250 a, 2250 b (e.g., DE72820924A; EK03568258A;GG49809927A; G34638700A, G48916304I); Federal Reserve letter/number 2260(e.g., A and 1; B and 2; G and 7; K and 11); series year 2262 a (e.g.,Series 1996; Series 2004; Series 2004A; Series 2006); serial numberseries letter 2262 b (e.g., “A” for 1996 series, “D” for 2003; “E” for2004 series; “G” for 2004A series; “1” for 2006 series); check letterand quadrant number 2264 (e.g., C and 3; D and 1; D and 4; E and 2; Eand 4; G and 2); check letter and face plate number 2266 (e.g., A and 3;C and 5; D and 12; D and 68; E and 58; G and 63); and/or back platenumber 2268 (e.g., 9, 25, 69).

According to some embodiments, it may be desirable for an operator ofdocument processing system 100 to view the Wizard 2200 on a display,such as, for example, the control panel 170 or other communicativelyconnected display device. For example, a bill may be flagged as asuspect document as described elsewhere herein such as in the Modes ofOperation—Flagging Section and in connection with FIGS. 9A-9F, and inother sections of the present disclosure. The currency bill may beflagged because all the desired information may not have been properlyextracted from the front image or the back image of a currency bill(e.g., Data Extraction Error Document). By displaying one or both of theimages 2210, 2215 on a display, the operator can then enter theinformation manually or check the extracted information with theimage(s) 2210, 2215 to verify that the information was correctlyextracted from the bill image(s) as described herein in reference to theWizard 2200. It is also contemplated that a currency bill may be flaggedas suspect, such as, if a currency bill fails certain authenticationtests, such as those authentication tests described in the DocumentProcessing Device and System Section and in other sections of thepresent disclosure. It may be beneficial in such situations for anoperator to review image(s) of the currency bill and the associatedextracted information to verify that information was correctlyextracted.

In certain embodiments, a document processing system (e.g., 100) mayinclude override features to complete, verify, and/or correct errors inthe extraction of identifying character information from a currency billimage. For example, to correct an extraction error of Federal ReserveLetter/Number, an operator may manually enter the information intoFederal Reserve Letter/Number data field 2260′. The operator may forexample be prompted to enter the letter and/or number (e.g., K, 11) orto correct or verify that the correct information has been extractedfrom the currency bill image data from which the images 2210, 2215 arereproduced. As illustrated in FIG. 22, the currency bill image can bedisplayed adjacent to the various data fields to allow manual entry ofcorrections. The operator may also be prompted to correct or verify thecurrency bill series. For example, in the series data field 2262′, theoperator may be prompted to enter, verify, or correct the four-digitseries year and/or the associated series letters for a displayedcurrency bill image 2210, 2215. Similarly, it is also contemplated thatin certain embodiments an operator may be prompted to complete, correct,or verify data extracted from image data in a denomination data field2240′, a serial number data field 2250′, a check letter/quadrant numberdata field 2264′, a check letter face plate number data field 2266′, ora back plate number data field 2268′, such as described above inconnection with the Wizard 2200.

As discussed elsewhere, the extracted denomination, serial number,Federal Reserve Letter/Number, Series, check letter and quadrant number,check letter and face plate number, and/or back plate number data fieldsmay be used for cross-referencing purposes to determine if a currencybill is a suspect bill. For example, the serial number of a currencybill may be related to the series. If the series information known to beassociated with a currency bill's serial number does not match for aparticular bill, then the bill is a deemed a suspect bill. Therefore, itis contemplated that in certain embodiments a memory stores known serialnumber information for genuine currency bills along with the properadditional currency bill data field information (e.g., denomination,Federal Reserves Letter/Number, series, check letter and face platenumber) that should be associated with the genuine currency bills. Forexample, a group of currency bills of the same denomination and printedduring the same run on a given date are expected to have the same CheckLetter and Quadrant Number. It is contemplated that a central bank or agovernment entity would maintain a database with the denomination andserial numbers of currency bills along with each currency billsassociated additional information. For example, the Bureau of Engravingor other government entity may maintain a database indicating that the$50 US Federal Reserve Notes printed for the Federal Reserve Bank ofDallas with serial numbers ranging from EK03500000A to EK03600000A areSeries 2004 and were printed using Check Letter and Quadrant Number D1and back plate number nine. Such information may be stored in a memoryof a document processing device and/or system or may be accessed by thedocument processing device and/or system (e.g., devices 100, 101′, 101a,b, 400, 1171 a-n, 1173 a-n) over a network. In certain embodimentsinformation about the relationships between currency bill seriesletters, series year, Federal Reserve Letter/Number, and the serialnumber may also be stored in a memory or may be accessed by a documentprocessing device and/or system. One or more processors and/orcontrollers in the document processing device and/or system can thencompare serial numbers extracted from image data associated withcurrency bills to see if their respective serial numbers have beenidentified as a suspect serial number, such as by being placed on ablacklist database described in the Modes of Operation—BlacklistsSection and in connection with FIG. 11C, and in other sections of thepresent disclosure. The processor can further cross-reference theadditional identifying character information extracted from the imagesof the currency bills with the extracted serial number and compare thecross-referenced extracted information with the stored information onthe relationships of serial numbers and additional information forgenuine currency bills.

According to some embodiments, it is contemplated that it may bedesirable to track currency bills by both serial number and non-serialnumber character information printed on the front and/or back of acurrency bill. Numerous identifying characteristics may be extractedfrom image data from which a visually readable image of a currency billand/or otherwise be obtained from a currency bill can be reproduced.These identifying characteristics may be associated with the currencybill image (front and/or back), and the characteristics may includewithout limitation serial number, Federal Reserve Letter/Number, checkletter and quadrant number, check letter and face plate number, backplate number, series, denomination, and other pertinent information. Theidentifying characteristics described herein are typically associatedwith U.S. currency, however, foreign currency bills have similaridentifying characteristic information that can be used to identifysuspect bills.

In attempting to identify counterfeit or suspect currency bills bycross-referencing non-serial number character information with theserial number of a currency bill, it is contemplated that in certainembodiments multiple types of non-serial number character informationmay be extracted from the front and/or back images of a currency billand/or otherwise be obtained from a currency bill. For example, incertain embodiments a document processing device and/or system may beconfigured with a supervisor mode that allows an operator to select justone non-serial number characteristic to cross-reference with thecurrency bill serial number. It is also contemplated that the operatormay select one, two, or more than two non-serial number identifyingcharacteristics to cross-reference with the currency bill serial number.Either way, a database with serial number information and the non-serialnumber identifying character information associated with genuine serialnumbers is downloaded into a memory or stored in a memory accessible tothe document processing device and/or system. As currency bills areprocessed and imaged to obtain image data and/or other data, thecharacter information and attributes identified by the operator can beextracted from the currency bill and compared with the database ofinformation for known characteristic information associated with genuinecurrency bills. It is contemplated in certain embodiments an operatormay identify that the serial number and two or more identifyingnon-serial number characteristics (e.g., back plate number, check letterand quadrant number, and check letter and face plate number) are to beextracted and cross-referenced for determining whether a currency billis genuine. However, in certain embodiments, some of the non-serialnumber identifying characteristics are cross-referenced with the serialnumber. For example, in some embodiments, if three non-serial numberattributes are selected, then a match with known counterfeit informationof two out of the three or one out of the three of the characteristicsby the document processing system can flag the currency bill as suspect(e.g., non-authentic or possibly counterfeit).

It is contemplated that in certain embodiments various logical acts maybe applied to determine if a currency bill is a suspect bill. Forexample, a decision-tree may be applied by first comparing the extractedserial number with a list of known counterfeit and/or blacklist serialnumbers. If there is no match after the first logic step, the currencybill is deemed to not be suspect. If there is a match, then furthercomparison may be done, for example, of the back plate number associatedwith the known counterfeit and the back plate number extracted from theimage data associated with the currency bill. If there is no match, thecurrency bill is deemed to not be suspect. If there is a match, theremay, for example, be an additional comparison of another characteristicsuch as the series to see if there is a match with the knowncounterfeit. If there is a match, then the currency bill is flagged assuspect. It is also contemplated that after the comparison of theextracted serial number with the list of known counterfeit serialnumbers, a different database of information associated with genuinecurrency bills may be utilized. For example, the different database maycontain information on genuine serial number ranges and associatednon-serial number characteristic information that should be printed onbills within the range of serial numbers. Thus, if the initial serialnumber comparison does not show a currency bill to be on the list ofknown counterfeit serial numbers, the currency bill can be furtherevaluated to look for other suspect characteristics such as impropercorresponding back plate number or series. Such comparison techniquesmay be particularly beneficial in identifying suspect currency billsbefore their associated serial numbers are even placed on a list ofknown counterfeits. That is, such a technique could help with the earlyidentification of counterfeit currency bills.

Referring to FIG. 26, a method 2600 of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure is presented. In act 2610, a stack of currency bills can bereceived in one or more input receptacles of a document processingdevice and/or system, such as, for example, document processing device101, 101′ and/or document processing system 100. The input receptaclesmay or may not be in the same location. That is, the input receptaclesmay be associated with document processing devices located remotely fromeach other. In act 2620, the currency bills are transported along atransport path at their respective locations which is followed byobtaining image data from which a visually readable image of each of thecurrency bills can be reproduced in act 2630. The image data may beobtained using one or more image scanners and/or image scanning systemconfigured to reproduce images of sufficient resolution to allow visualreading of the displayed visually readable images (e.g., at least 50DPI×50 DPI; at least 150 DPI×150 DPI; at least 200 DPI×400 DPI; at least300 DPI×300 DPI; at least 400 DPI×400 DPI; at least 400 DPI×200 DPI). Asexplained elsewhere within the related sections of the presentdisclosure, the images may be full or partial images of one or bothsides of a currency bill. At act 2640, serial number and additionalcharacter information is extracted from the image data associated withthe currency bills obtained in act 2630 and/or data is otherwisedetermined from a bill, such as, for example, the bill is otherwisedenominated and/or authenticated. At act 2650, serial number andadditional character information uniquely identifying genuine currencybills may be received and stored in a memory associated with one or moreprocessors and/or one or more controller of a computer. At act 2660, acomparison of the uniquely identifying information for the genuinecurrency bills may be made with the extracted currency bill serialnumber and the extracted additional character information and/or theotherwise determined bill information. This comparison may reveal thatone or more currency bills are suspect. For example, a genuine currencybill may have certain unique identifying character informationassociated with a certain range of serial numbers. If the receivedcurrency bill does not have the same unique identifying characterinformation that should be associated with its serial number, thecurrency bill will be flagged as suspect according to, for example, oneof the flagging modes described in the Modes of Operation—FlaggingSection and in connection with FIGS. 9A-9E, and as described in sectionselsewhere in the present disclosure. Alternatively, a comparison ofextracted serial number information may also be made from receivedserial number information associated with known counterfeit currencybills. The known counterfeit bills may also have additional uniqueidentifying character information printed thereon that is associated ina database with the counterfeit currency bill serial number. If theextracted information from the received currency bill matches theinformation for the counterfeit currency bills, the received currencybill will be flagged as suspect.

It is contemplated that the instructions from the flow chart for FIG. 26on flagging suspect currency bills, along with other flowchartsillustrated elsewhere in this disclosure, can be implemented on aprocessor having an associated memory or a plurality of connectedprocessors having associated memories.

It is contemplated that in certain embodiments of the methods describedfor FIGS. 25 and/or 26 that the document processing system (e.g., 100)is configured to allow matching of more than two attributes inqualifying a bill as genuine. For example, a database may contain serialnumber and associated information for multiple secondary characteristics(e.g., Federal Reserve Number/Letter, check letter and quadrant number,back plate number, series) of a currency bill. To authenticate the bill,the document processing system may extract three or more billcharacteristics and compare those characteristics with information in adatabase for genuine or suspect bills to determine the authenticity ofthe currency bill. For example, if a processed bill does not have morethan two proper matching attributes (e.g., serial number, check letterand quadrant number, back plate number), then the bill would be deemedsuspect. It is contemplated that in certain embodiments, for a bill tobe deemed authentic, two out three of the extracted bill characteristicsneed to match the information in the database. It is also contemplatedthat a document processing device can have a supervisor or administratormode that allows the number of bill characteristics to be changed basedon the criteria established to deem a bill authentic.

In certain embodiments, a process for evaluating currency billauthenticity may include extracting a serial number from a bill andcomparing the extracted serial number to a database of known counterfeitserial numbers to determine if there is a match. If the extracted serialnumber does not match, the currency bill is deemed to be not suspect. Ifthe extracted serial number does match, a second extractedcharacteristic (e.g., back plate number, series) is compared with thedatabase for a match. If there is no match, again, the bill is deemed tobe not suspect. If there is a match, then a third extractedcharacteristic is compared with the database for a match. If there is nomatch, then the bill is deemed not suspect. If there is a match, thenthe currency bill is flagged as being suspect. Other variations of thisprocess for determining if a bill is suspect are contemplated includingcomparing additional extracted characteristics with data stored in adatabase of known suspect bills. In addition, it is contemplated thatextracted currency bill information may be compared with a database ofknown genuine currency bills where if a bill of a certain serial numberdoes not have the proper series, back plate number, and/or FederalReserve Letter/Number, it will be deemed suspect.

It is contemplated that in certain embodiments various secondarycurrency bill characteristics may be compared to determine authenticityor to simply flag a currency bill as being of interest. For example, theFederal Reserve Letter/Number may be cross-referenced with the checkletter and quadrant number and/or back plate number to flag a currencybill as being of interest. In another example, comparison of extractedbill characteristics may be made to a database or to criteria thatrequires all bills of a certain denomination (e.g., $100) to be flaggedthat have a certain check letter and quadrant number (e.g., D1) or backplate number (e.g., 9) or a certain combination of check letter andquadrant number and back plate number (e.g., D1, 9) and Federal ReserveLetter/Number (e.g., A, 1, Boston; E, 5, Richmond). That is, in additionto, or as an alternate to, comparing extracted serial numbers with adatabase, cross-referencing or flagging may be based on extractedsecondary bill characteristics such as check letter and face platenumbers, back plate numbers, series, and/or Federal ReserveLetter/Numbers. The described method may be desirable for flaggingsuspect bills that are known to have the same denomination, series,check letter and face plate number, back plate number, and/or FederalReserve Letter/Number.

Numerous references are made herein to document processing systemembodiments and document processing device embodiments, for example, inFIGS. 1, 2A-C, 4A-8B, and 13A-E, and in the various other documentsincorporated herein by reference. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that many changes may be made to the described embodimentswithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.Furthermore, those skilled in the art will also recognize that certainembodiments described for one device or system can be readily, or withslight modification, be included in the embodiments described foranother device or system, without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for processing currency bills, the apparatus comprising: an input receptacle configured to receive a stack of currency bills, each currency bill having a serial number and additional identifying character information; an image scanner configured to obtain image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of one or more portions of at least one side of each currency bill, the image scanner configured to extract the serial number and one or more additional identifying characters from the image data for each currency bill, the image scanner further configured to extract denomination information for each currency bill; a controller configured to authenticate each currency bill based on the extracted serial number and the extracted one or more additional identifying characters for each respective currency bill; and an output device configured to automatically display a suspect note report for each currency bill determined to be non-authentic by the controller, the suspect note report for a non-authentic currency bill including fields populated with the serial number extracted from the image of the non-authentic currency bill, the additional identifying characters extracted from the image data for the non-authentic currency bill, and the extracted denomination information of the non-authentic currency bill.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the suspect note report includes an image associated with at least a portion of the image data for the non-authentic currency bill.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the portion of the image data includes the serial number for the non-authentic currency bill.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the authenticity of each currency bill is determined by comparing the extracted serial number and the extracted additional identifying characters with serial numbers and corresponding additional identifying characters associated with serial numbers of genuine currency bills.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein a currency bill is determined to be a non-authentic currency bill if the extracted serial number does not have extracted additional identifying characters that match a serial number and corresponding additional identifying character information associated with a genuine currency bill.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is embodied within a housing, the housing having a footprint of less than about two square feet, the apparatus and housing having a weight of less than about thirty-five pounds.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the extracted additional identifying information includes one or more of a Federal Reserve Bank designation, a check letter, quadrant number, a series, a face plate number, a back plate number, or any combination thereof.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the automatic display of the suspect note report includes an identification of a customer associated with the non-authentic currency bill.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an input device configured to receive an input for triggering the transmittal of the suspect note report to a printing device.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an input device configured to receive an input for triggering the transmittal of the suspect note report to a communications interface connected to a network.
 11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured for processing U.S. currency bills, and wherein the input receptacle is configured to receive a stack of U.S. currency bills and controller is configured to authenticate each received U.S. currency bill.
 12. A method of processing currency bills, the method comprising: receiving in a document processing system an electronic data file over a network, the electronic data file comprising image data that is reproducible as visually readable images corresponding to a first plurality of currency bills, each data file further including an associated serial number and additional identifying character information tagged to the image data for each of the first plurality of currency bills; receiving in an input receptacle of the document processing device a stack of a second plurality of currency bills, each of the second plurality of currency bills having an associated serial number and additional identifying character information; transporting the second plurality of currency bills from the input receptacle, past an image scanner, and to an output receptacle; imaging the stack of the second plurality of currency bills via the image scanner to produce image data that is reproducible as visually readable images for each currency bill; extracting an associated currency bill serial number and the additional identifying character information from the image data for each of the second plurality of currency bills; and comparing extracted serial number and additional identifying information from the second plurality of currency bills with the electronic data file to determine if any of the second plurality of currency bills has a serial number and additional identifying character information matching the electronic data file for the first plurality of currency bills.
 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: determining the authenticity of each of the second plurality of currency bills based on the extracted currency bill serial number, the authenticity at least partially determined by comparing the extracted serial number and the extracted additional identifying character information with serial numbers and corresponding additional identifying character information stored in a memory of the document processing system, the serial numbers and corresponding additional identifying information stored in the memory being associated with serial numbers of genuine currency bills; and upon the determination that a currency bill is a non-authentic currency bill, automatically generating a counterfeit note report, the automatically generated report including fields populated with the extracted non-authentic currency bill serial number, the extracted additional identifying character information, and the denomination of the non-authentic currency bill.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving an input via an input device, the input triggering a transmittal of the suspect note report to a communications interface connected to the network.
 15. The method of claim 13, wherein the counterfeit note report includes an image associated with at least a portion of the image data for the non-authentic currency bill.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein the extracted one or more additional identifying characters includes one or more of a Federal Reserve Bank designation, a check letter, quadrant number, a series, a face plate number, a back plate number, or any combination thereof.
 17. A method of processing currency bills, the method comprising: receiving in an input receptacle of the document processing device a stack of currency bills, each currency bill having a serial number and additional identifying character information; imaging the stack of currency bills via an image scanner to produce image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of one or more portions of at least one side of each currency bill; extracting, via one or more processors, a serial number, one or more additional identifying characters, and denomination information from the image data for each currency bill; authenticating, via at least one of the one or more processors, each currency bill based on the extracted serial number and the extracted one or more additional identifying characters for each respective currency bill; and automatically displaying via an output device a suspect note report for each currency bill determined to be non-authentic by the processor, the suspect note report for a non-authentic currency bill including fields populated with the serial number extracted from the image of the non-authentic currency bill, the additional identifying characters extracted from the image data for the non-authentic currency bill, and the extracted denomination information of the non-authentic currency bill.
 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising receiving an input via an input device, the input triggering a transmittal of the suspect note report to a communications interface connected to a network.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein the stack of currency bills is a stack of U.S. currency bills.
 20. The method of claim 17, wherein the extracted one or more additional identifying characters includes one or more of a Federal Reserve Bank designation, a check letter, quadrant number, a series, a face plate number, a back plate number, or any combination thereof. 